LAS VEGAS — Daniel Jacobs will likely move up to the 168-pound division, believing he has outgrown the 160-pound middleweight division after losing Saturday night’s championship fight to Saul “Canelo” Alvarez at T-Mobile Arena.

After losing a unanimous decision, Jacobs revealed he struggled to make the middleweight limit for Friday’s weigh-in and subsequently was forced to violate a rehydration clause in his contract at the cost of nearly $1 million.

Jacobs was contractually bound not to weigh more than 170 during a morning weigh-in Saturday or face a penalty of $250,000 for each pound he was over that limit. Jacobs reportedly weighed 173.6 pounds.

Jacobs (35-3, 29 KOs) said he weighed 170 simply rehydrating from water and needed the added weight to have the energy to fight.

“I knew it was a sacrifice I had to make,” Jacobs said after the bout. “Me hydrating just with water, I shot up to 170 pounds. I needed to put some more in my system. It was the best decision for me to go in there and give my all and not be depleted.”

It didn’t help Jacobs pull out the victory. Alvarez retained the WBC, WBA championships and took Jacobs’ IBF belt by winning 115-113 on two cards and 116-112 on another. The Brooklyn native said he will contemplate moving up to the 168-pound super middleweight division.

“It’s questionable if I’m going to stay on in the middleweight division,” Jacobs said. “It’s taking a toll on my body and it’s growing. I might have outgrown the middleweight division. Once I go back and see the fight on replay, I’ll be able to give a better assessment.”

All the judges had Alvarez winning at least four of the first five rounds as he was the aggressor and forced the fight, while Jacobs tried to keep his distance with a long infrequent jab. Jacobs turned southpaw during the middle part of the fight, causing Alvarez to rethink his approach. And while Jacobs won the final two rounds on two of the judges’ cards it wasn’t enough to make up for his slow start.

“I felt I did enough to get the victory,” Jacobs said. “I know it was back and forth action, but for me early on it was hard to get the rhythm of Canelo. Once I got the rhythm I thought I started to push him back and it became a really competitive fight.”

Alvarez (52-1-2, 35 KOs) moves on as boxing’s biggest star as he works through the $365 million contract he signed with DAZN, the streaming app which carried the fight. Alvarez seems lukewarm about a third fight with Gennady Golovkin and could challenge Callum Smith for the Brit’s WBA super middleweight title. Meanwhile, heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua arrives in New York on Monday for media sessions in preparation for his June 1 appearance at Madison Square Garden against Andy Ruiz, Jr. Joshua will train in Florida.