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Andre Ward Weighs In On Whether Canelo Alvarez Should Retire After Terence Crawford Loss

Originally posted on KO on SI | By Grant Young | Last updated Sep 22, 2025 6:00 PM ET

Saul "Canelo" Alvarez suffered the third loss of his professional boxing career when he was defeated by Terence Crawford on September 13.

There's certainly no shame in losing to Crawford, just as there was no shame in losing to Floyd Mayweather and Dmitry Bivol, who are the other two defeats on Canelo's otherwise immaculate resumé.

Canelo was a clear favorite to beat Crawford, but the Mexican former undisputed champion simply had nothing for Crawford on fight night.

Some saw this coming from Canelo. Not only is he now 35 years old, but he has done a lot of boxing in his life. That, combined with Canelo already having made more money than anybody would know what to do with, him having nothing left to prove within the boxing world, and him already talking about wanting to retire in the past couple of years, has made many wonder whether this loss to Crawford could be the last time that Canelo decides to lace the gloves up.

Andre Ward Asserts It's Time for Canelo Alvarez to Retire

Andre Ward is typically the first person boxing fans think of when they ponder somebody who retired at the top. Ward called it a career in 2017, when he was 33 years old, had a 32-0 record, and had held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including being the reigning WBA, IBF, WBO, and The Ring light heavyweight champion.

Ward now wants to see Canelo call it a career, which he revealed during a recent episode of his All The Smoke Fight podcast.

"I would like to see Canelo retire, too," Ward said. "I don't think he will, though. He's got a multi-fight deal with Turki Alalshikh, that's a lot of money on the table. And he's a proud, proud champion. So I can understand him not wanting to end on that note.

"But you can see Canelo getting older," Ward continued. "The man has been fighting as a professional since he was 15 years old. That's a long time to be getting hit with 8-ounce and 10-ounce gloves... I don't know how much longer he should keep fighting, and it's not because he can't fight anymore. He's still one of the best fighters in the world."

Ward later added, "[Canelo] doesn't need to do [box], other than just his love for it. Because his mantra is, 'No boxing, no life.' So I don't know if he's going to be able to walk away right now... But I think that given the way that he fought, and given the way that he bowed out, I think that you just got to just leave it right there."

Time will tell whether Canelo heeds Ward's advice.

This article first appeared on KO on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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