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David Benavidez Sends Canelo Alvarez Brutal Ego Lesson After Terence Crawford Loss

Originally posted on KO on SI | By Grant Young | Last updated Oct 7, 2025 3:32 PM ET

Canelo Alvarez suffered the third defeat of his professional boxing career against Terence Crawford on September 13.

There's no shame in losing to a fighter of Crawford's caliber, especially considering the extraordinary performance that Crawford put together in that 12-round bout, which resulted in a unanimous decision victory.

But this defeat has still got to sting for Canelo. Not only did he lose his undisputed super middleweight belts, but he also entered the fight as a favorite because of his size advantage over Crawford, who jumped up two weight classes for this fight.

Then again, nobody is going to be feeling bad for Canelo, given that he presumably made around $100 million for this fight.

One of the most famous quotes in boxing history came from the great Marvin Hagler, who said, "It's hard to wake up and do road work at 5:00 am if you're sleeping in silk pajamas."

What Hagler meant by this is that once a boxer reaches a certain level of financial success, it's hard to replicate the same drive and motivation they had when they were broke and fighting to earn the life they now live.

David Benavidez Scolds Canelo Alvarez's Preparation for Terence Crawford Fight

While the details of Canelo's training camp against Crawford aren't public information, David Benavidez (who tried and failed for years to secure a fight with Canelo) seems to think that Canelo wasn't waking up and doing road work at 5:00 am, which he relayed during an October 6 interview with Fight Hub TV.

"I think Crawford took it way more serious than Canelo. Which is kind of weird, because the amount of money that Canelo was making," Benavidez said.

"I'm not talking s*** about Canelo. It just didn't look like he really prepared 100%. He was throwing 10 punches a round. Or I think it was, his ego's that big, that he thinks, 'Oh, I'm just gonna walk through [Crawford], catch him with a good shot, and it's gonna be done.'"

Benavidez later added, "[Crawford] is the epitome of a great boxer. There's a lot of lessons to be learned in that fight... If you really want to make something come true, and you really believe it, you can make it come true.

"And then the other lesson is: Don't let your ego get the best out of you. Don't think that you don't have to prepare because you're a bigger fighter, you know what I mean? That s*** will bite you in the a**," he concluded.

Perhaps Canelo will take Banevidez's lesson to heart for his next fight.

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

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