This past Saturday night on DAZN, Canelo Álvarez retained the WBA (Super), WBC, WBO, and The Ring super middleweight titles after defeating Edgar Berlanga by unanimous decision.

I got a chance to watch the fight over the weekend, and though Canelo showed that he’s still one of the best pound-for-pound boxers, there were signs that the 34-year-old is slowing down.

That’s not to say that Canelo wasn’t impressive in the win. Berlanga, the much taller fighter, was tough and connected some punches. Canelo was able to knock his opponent down in the third round with a quick left hook in which Berlanga quickly got up from. Canelo’s jabs, and punches to Berlanga’s arms showed to be effective. The gameplan that Berlanga originally set out to do started to falter in the championships rounds.

But in those middle rounds and towards the end, Canelo struggled to close the deal. Though he did get a knockdown, there were no signs that the show was going to end quickly. The power of Canelo didn’t seem to cause enough effect to really takeaway Berlanga’s spirit. The challenger still stood tall and even on the ropes took punishment and threw shots back. Canelo was able to walk him down, but didn’t land too many eye-popping shots. The body shots that Canelo typically lands that hurt opponents didn’t have the same effect.

Nonetheless, Canelo did win and advanced his record to 66-2-2. But in recent years, it’s been showed that Canelo’s level of opponents aren’t as high as they once was. Jermell Charlo was clearly undersized and not on the same level, he lost to the bigger Dmitry Bivol, and GGG was passed his prime in the third fight.

Canelo is a cash cow now. A prize fighter that can fill up arenas given the right location on the right dates. The Mexican fanbase comes out and fills seats for him, something most fighters can’t do. He’s the number one guy, which means the companies backing him will protect him until his last few fights. The boxing world at one point wanted to see him go up against Terance Crawford, I’m one of those people. However, after a lackluster performance from Bud, that did result in a win, I doubt we’d see that matchup anytime soon.

We may still be in the Canelo era, but it’s almost coming to an end for the legendary boxer.