“You always learn something from everything. So it was a good experience, and I really enjoyed it,” Canelo told InsideRingShow when asked if he looked back fondly on the Crawford fight despite the loss.
“Yes (he watched the fight back). A lot of things.
“Just sometimes your body doesn’t react the way you want it to, but I know what my mistakes were. And I can adjust everything to make everything perfect for the next one. You know, we just think that, right? If we can get that fight back, it will be amazing.”
Canelo also admitted he approached the fight stylistically wrong.
“I see a lot of mistakes I made. I tried to be faster for his style and everything. Now I just have to do my job, and that’s it,” Canelo said of his performance against Crawford.
The comments are interesting because many fans viewed the Crawford loss differently. Crawford’s jab controlled large portions of the fight, disrupting Canelo’s positioning and gradually taking over once the pace slowed in the second half. Canelo still landed isolated power punches, but he struggled to maintain sustained pressure after the middle rounds.
This raises questions heading into the Mbilli battle.
Mbilli is a completely different kind of problem than Crawford. Crawford outboxes opponents and controls them technically. Mbilli physically breaks fighters down with pressure, volume and constant exchanges. He fights at a pace that forces opponents into grueling rounds, and that style has already led many fans to compare the bout to the first two fights between Canelo and Gennadiy Golovkin.
If Canelo defeats Mbilli in an entertaining fight, the demand for a rematch will likely be immediate due to the style of action both fighters bring. But if Mbilli overwhelms him physically, the Crawford replay talk could quickly disappear. A damaging loss to a younger pressure fighter would create a different conversation around Canelo’s career than losing a tactical fight to Crawford.
Canelo admitted his frustration at not getting another shot at Crawford, but said he remains patient.
“Yeah, it’s frustrating, but like I always say, when you can’t control the situation, you can’t do anything,” Canelo said of his inability to control whether a rematch with Crawford ever happens.
“So, I’m going to stay calm, do my job, and I’m still going to have my fights in my career. If the fight can happen again, it’s going to be different.”
Canelo talks about his fight with Bud Crawford and wants a REMATCH ‼️
Look #InsideTheRing NOW on DAZN. @InsideRingShow | @RingMagazine pic.twitter.com/8EUaCRyrfN
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) May 27, 2026
