When did Canelo start boxing?

Canelo has had over 100 fights, but when did he first start boxing?

Saul Canelo Alvarez has been the face of boxing for the past decade and is easily the most popular and sought-after fighter of his generation.

Landing a shot at the Mexican megastar is like winning the lottery, just with a lot more bruises involved.

Aged just 34, Canelo has had 66 professional fights, which is a prolific amount in modern boxing, and dozens more than anyone else around his level in the world right now.

Only Roman ‘Chocolatitio’ Gonzalez comes close with his 56-bout record, who is also a four-weight world champion, just like Canelo.

So how old was Canelo when he first took up boxing to have accumulated such a high volume of fights on his impressive record? Find out here…

Early years 

Santos Saul Alvarez Barragan was born July 18, 1990, on the outskirts of Guadalajara in Mexico. The youngest of eight children, he grew up on their family farm, where he learned horseback riding and spent a lot of his time outdoors.

With only one sister and six brothers, young Saul naturally followed his older brothers into boxing, who all started before him, and all became professional boxers.

The inspiration 

Nicknamed ‘Canelo’, which simply translates to ‘Cinnamon’ in reference to his ginger hair, it wasn’t until he was over 10-years-old when he first decided to take up boxing, emulating his siblings before him.

It was when watching his older brother Rigoberto debut as a professional boxer in 2000 that inspired the youngest brother to take up the sport.

And it wasn’t long before the natural pugilist began to excel, winning silver at the 2004 Mexican National Championships, just one year after lacing up his competition gloves for the first time.

The following year in 2005, he became the Mexican National Boxing Champion at the age of 15, and finished his short stint in the amateurs with a record of 44-2, 12KOs.

His trainers, father and son team Chapo and Eddy Reynoso, struggled to find willing opponents, so the decision was made to turn pro at the age of just 15-years-old.

It’s widely reported that he started boxing at 13, but that’s when his amateur career began. It was after watching his older brother in the ring when he started to box at 10.

The paid ranks 

Even though he was still just a boy, Canelo had his professional debut just three months after turning 15.

The teenager defeated 22 opponents and knocked out 15 of those within his first two-years as a professional boxer, all of whom were fully-grown men, significantly older and stronger than him.

This record came between his pro bow on October 28, 2005 to October 24, 2007, but according to trainer Chapo, he fought another 10 times within that span, winning all by knockout, but the bouts were so poorly documented in Mexico that they weren’t officially registered. Which means, Canelo’s actual record should really read as 72 wins, 2 losses, 2 draws, 49KOs.

Aged 18, unbeaten in 23 bouts, including one draw, the growing teenager made his U.S. debut in California against local fighter Larry Mosley, which he won via unanimous decision. 

He went on to win his next 13 fights to land his first-ever world title shot against Briton Matthew Hatton for the WBC super-welterweight title, which he triumphed in via unanimous decision. 

He unified the WBA title and also picked up his first ring Magazine belt, before he stepped up in a bid for greatness against Floyd Mayweather just a little too soon, in 2013, tasting defeat for the first time in his pro career. 

He had reached 42-0-1 before he took a humbling from the generational great, who put on a masterclass that night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

After that, Canelo became better than ever with wins over Erislandy Lara; Miguel Cotto; Amir Khan; Gennady Golovkin twice; Daniel Jacobs; Callum Smith; Billy Joe Saunders; Caleb Plant; Jermell Charlo; and most recently defeating two young, hungry, unbeaten contenders in Jaime Munguia and Edgar Berlanga this year, dropping both to win unanimously.

As of writing, Canelo is a four-weight world champion and the first and only ever undisputed champion at super-middleweight in a four-belt era, currently with a record of 62 wins, 2 losses, 2 draws, 39KOs.

Canelo Alvarez of Mexico celebrates his 11th round TKO

He has consistently made the Forbes list of the highest paid athletes in the world over the past five years, reportedly banking $40 million for his win over Caleb Plant in 2021 to be crowned undisputed. 

But his career-best purse came against rival Gennady Golovkin in their trilogy decider, where he earned $45 million, which places him in the top 10 highest paid boxers of all time.

Top 10 most active boxers

To highlight just how bountiful the boxer’s record is, a comparison can be drawn below against the top 10 most active fighters right now, focusing within the top 50 in the world.