Canelo Names His Top 5 Mexican Fighters — And Leaves Himself Off

Canelo Alvarez has drawn up his list of the five greatest Mexican fighters ever — and pointedly kept his own name off it. The 36-year-old, who sits at 63-2-2 with 39 knockouts across more than two decades, told DAZN his top five are Julio Cesar Chavez, Gilberto Roman, Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales and Salvador Sanchez. He added that he'd need roughly two years of study to crown a single best.

The timing matters. Canelo returns on October 31 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to challenge super-middleweight champion Christian Mbilli — his first fight since dropping a unanimous decision to Terence Crawford in September 2025. Crawford, now 42-0 with 31 stoppages, handed Canelo just the second loss of a career that's spanned nearly 70 pro outings.

A Short List With Long History

Canelo named Chavez first, and few would argue. The three-division champion ran up a staggering 115-fight career and went unbeaten until Oscar De La Hoya stopped him in four rounds. It's the kind of longevity Canelo is still chasing himself.

The rest of the list leans on tragedy and brilliance in equal measure. Salvador Sanchez defended his featherweight crown against the likes of Wilfredo Gomez before dying in a car crash at 23. Gilberto Roman, a two-time WBC super-flyweight ruler through the late 1980s, met the same fate. Barrera and Morales, meanwhile, are bound forever by one of the sport's great trilogies.

What's Left for Canelo

The absence of his own name isn't false modesty so much as unfinished business. Canelo is already a four-division world champion and two-time undisputed king, but he said he wants to reclaim the WBC belt and squeeze three or four more fights out of his career before walking away.

That makes Mbilli more than a tune-up. Beat the champion in Riyadh and Canelo keeps the retirement tour on his own terms, with a legacy argument that only grows. Lose, and the conversation about where he ranks among Mexico's best gets a lot more complicated — list or no list.