Canelo Álvarez

Canelo Álvarez (born July 18, 1990, San Agustín, Jalisco, Mexico) is a Mexican professional boxer who has won world championships in four weight classes. Considered among the best pound-for-pound boxers of his generation, Álvarez in 2021 became the first boxer to achieve undisputed world champion status at super middleweight.

Early life

Álvarez is the youngest of seven sons and one daughter born to Santos Álvarez and Ana Maria Barragán. Growing up near Guadalajara, Álvarez and his siblings often helped out their parents’ paleta (fruit Popsicle) business by selling the treats at markets and on public transportation. As a child, Álvarez’s red hair and light, freckled complexion earned him the nickname “El Canelo,” which means “Cinnamon.” His eldest brother, Rigoberto, was the first Álvarez to take up boxing and inspired his siblings to try the sport. At 10 years old Canelo Álvarez frequently got into fights with neighborhood bullies—most of which he won. “When I was a little kid, I was always fighting,” he told Premier Boxing Champions. “I was always beating the other kids up.” By age 13, he had begun formal training as a boxer and started competing in amateur matches. When Álvarez left the amateur circuit two years later, his record was 44 wins and 2 losses.

Professional career

Álvarez made his professional debut at age 15 after exhausting the amateur competition. He won his first match, at the Arena Chololo Larios in Tonalá, Jalisco, with a technical knockout (TKO) in the fourth round. The next few years he repeated that early success, rising from 8–0–1 (eight wins, zero losses, and one draw) in 2006 to 23–0–1 in 2008. Known for his fierce counterpunching and methodical strategy, the 5-foot-7.5-inch (1.71-meter) Álvarez knocked out six opponents in a row in 2009. Two years later he won the World Boxing Council (WBC) junior middleweight title with a victory over Matthew Hatton, and in 2013 he captured the World Boxing Association (WBA) junior middleweight belt with a close victory over Austin Trout.

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On September 14, 2013, Álvarez faced the veteran fighter Floyd Mayweather, Jr., in his most prominent bout to date. Although Álvarez lost in a majority decision, his performance impressed observers because it was only the second time in the undefeated Mayweather’s career that he had not won a fight by knockout, unanimous decision, or retirement of his opponent. Moreover, the fight, held in Las Vegas and broadcast to millions on pay-per-view, was the biggest boxing event of the year, introducing Álvarez to a new, international audience and greatly boosting his celebrity.

Over the next several years Álvarez compiled seven consecutive victories, winning the WBC middleweight title and the World Boxing Organization (WBO) junior middleweight title. In September 2017 he and Gennadiy Golovkin went the full 12 rounds, and the fight was somewhat controversially ruled a split draw. In a rematch one year later, Álvarez came out on top in a majority decision, thereby obtaining the WBC and WBA middleweight titles.

Álvarez next set his sights on becoming the undisputed champion at super middleweight. “It’s very important for me to become the undisputed champion because it puts me in boxing history,” Álvarez told The Guardian in 2021. “Few fighters have accomplished this and nobody in Latin America has done it.” Undisputed champions must hold titles in all four major boxing bodies (WBA, WBC, International Boxing Federation [IBF], and WBO) and the Ring title awarded by The Ring magazine. Álvarez earned the WBA, WBC, and Ring titles in 2020. On November 6, 2021, Álvarez won the IBF and WBO titles in a victory over Caleb Plant, becoming the first boxer to become undisputed champion at super middleweight.

For his next fight, Álvarez faced Dmitry Bivol for the WBA light heavyweight title (Álvarez had fought at light heavyweight once before, winning the WBO title in 2019). In an upset, Bivol defeated Álvarez in a unanimous decision. The Mexican boxer had better success at super middleweight, retaining his undisputed status by defeating Golovkin in their third match, in 2022, and in bouts against John Ryder and Jermell Charlo in 2023. In May 2024 Álvarez again cemented his undisputed status in a victory over Jaime Munguia. He lost it several weeks later, however, when the IBF stripped him of his super middleweight title after Álvarez declined to defend it against relative newcomer William Scull. Instead, in September 2024 he fought Edgar Berlanga, a victory by unanimous decision.

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On May 3, 2025, Álvarez defeated Scull in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, by unanimous decision, once again unifying his super middleweight titles. Later that year Álvarez lost the titles after losing to Terence Crawford by unanimous decision.

Personal life and other activities

Outside his athletic career, Álvarez has invested in boxing and other entertainment promotions, a fitness app, and merchandising. In the early 2020s he founded a chain of gas stations and convenience stores in western Mexico.

In 2007, at age 16, Álvarez had his first child, with girlfriend Karen Beltran; the couple split up soon after. He and former business partner Nadia Sepulveda had a son in 2019. Since 2021 he has been married to Fernanda Gómez, a social media influencer and business owner. The couple has one daughter.