Canelo Alvarez is all set for his upcoming fight against Jaime Munguia on May 4. Despite it being a fight, he is once again favored to win, the boxer has left no stone unturned in his preparations. That said, the Mexican boxer was even prepared for the events of the press conference ahead of the fight.
For those unaware, Canelo Alvarez will be defending his undisputed super middleweight titles against Jaime Munguia on May 4, at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Fighting on the Cinco De Mayo weekend, there is understandably a lot of hype for the fight, especially within the Mexican community.
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That said, the buildup to the fight saw a lot of talk regarding Canelo’s opponent. With names like David Benavidez, and Jermall Charlo touted it was the WBC Silver super middleweight champion, Jaime Munguia who was elected to face the pound-for-pound champion. Interestingly, Munguia’s promoter for the fight is Oscar De La Hoya, who despite a close working relationship with Canelo Alvarez, doesn’t see eye to eye with him anymore.
Canelo Alvarez was ready for Oscar De La Hoya’s scathing comments
For the most part, the biggest talking point that emerged out of the press conference was the confrontation between Canelo Alvarez and Oscar De La Hoya which very nearly turned into a physical altercation. Naturally, since Canelo dropped Golden Boy Promotions, there has been bad blood between him and GBP owner Oscar De La Hoya ever since.
That said, Oscar was seemingly biding his time, waiting for the opportunity to get back at Canelo, who has slandered his name, at every given opportunity. At the same time, De La Hoya hasn’t been too coy about his feelings towards the Mexican superstar either, prompting Alvarez to be vary of such an attack.
In a recent interview with Morning Kombat, Canelo shared his thoughts on their recent altercation at the presser:
“Man, I always respect everything and any person out there but I always say, ‘For every action there is a reaction’ and I’m a fighter, things happen.”
“You can expect from Oscar ( De La Hoya), you can expect anything like that. He just throws sh*t in for his moment, he don’t know anything about promoting (his) fighter or caring about the fighter. (He) always leave their fighters when they need him. (On) the biggest stage, he leaves (his) fighters. He don’t care about his fighter.”
“The attention is for (Jaime) Munguia and he don’t care, he wants the attention, all the attention.”
On whether Oscar De La Hoya tried to provoke him on purpose:
“Of course, he did it on purpose, because he wants attention. Other than that, when the people talk about Oscar, it’s drugs, or alcohol or something bad.”
Alluding to his drug-riddled past and other controversies, Canelo Alvarez hinted at why he parted ways with De La Hoya and Golden Boy Promotions to begin with. In subsequent interviews, Alvarez had also revealed that he would never work with Oscar again, owing to his money-mindedness and attention-seeking activities.
Canelo Alvarez almost came to blows with Oscar De La Hoya at a recent press conference
On Wednesday, Canelo Alvarez sat across Jaime Munguia as the two came face to face for the press conference. Whilst both fighters were respectful to one another, the same could not be said about Munguia’s promoter, who from the moment he got on the podium, ripped into the undisputed super middleweight champion. In what was a rather surprising move, Oscar De La Hoya lashed out at Alvarez.
It got heated between Canelo and Oscar 😲 #CaneloMunguia pic.twitter.com/RkgWHGMJ5A
— ESPN Ringside (@ESPNRingside) May 1, 2024
“The company you fought under for decades has always had one name and it’s mine. So put some f***** respect on it.
“Remember when Jaime was 21 years old, volunteered to step in against GGG, and Canelo failed two drug tests? Though Jaime wasn’t allowed to fulfill his dream in 2018. On Saturday night, he will do just that. Fulfill his dream and be world champion.”
Naturally, Canelo was not going to be disrespected that easily, and mouthed off to De La Hoya whilst he was still speaking. Whilst most of what Alvarez said at the time was in Spanish and out of the earshot of most, he soon got his opportunity on the mic as well.
‼️ Canelo Alvarez rips into Oscar De La Hoya after their confrontation at the final press conference ahead of his fight vs Jaime Munguia on Saturday night: “He’s a f***ing asshole. F***ing p***y. Motherf***er.”
[🎥 @PremierBoxing] pic.twitter.com/YXBWnv49xI
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) May 1, 2024
“He (De La Hoya) is a f***ing a**hole that’s what I say. He’s a f***ing a**hole. He tried to keep the attention on him, not for Munguia. He steals (from) his fighters, that’s what he does. F**king p**sy. Whenever you want, I’m here for you too. Mother f**ker!”
As expected De La Hoya is not one to let things slide too easily and despite scurrying away from Canelo in that instance, has reportedly hit back with a cease-and-desist, demanding that he retracts his “defamatory allegations.” For the most part, this rivalry is far from over and the fans only wish that the promoter was 20 years younger so that they two could settle their business inside the ring itself.