Canelo Alvarez trains ahead of his match with Caleb Plant. Photo Credit: Esther Lin / Showtime
Canelo Alvarez is not happy with Lionel Messi over what he perceived to be a disrespectful act from the Argentine soccer star.
Argentina beat Mexico 2-0 in Group C play at the World Cup in Qatar on Saturday. Messi is said to have swapped a shirt with a Mexican player after the match. Messi apparently had that Mexican jersey with him in the locker room after the match, which is when things went bad.
A video was shared that showed the scene in the Argentina locker room after the 2-0 win.
The scenes in the Argentina dressing room last night. That win over Mexico meant a lot! 👏🏻🇦🇷 pic.twitter.com/04I5ec1gzI
🚨 Messi swapped shirt with a Mexico player after the game and then in the dressing room he was seen kicking the Mexican jersey he got from a mexican player. #mexico#messi#WorldCup2022pic.twitter.com/EPc3TKhSxk
“Just as I respect Argentina, you have to respect Mexico!! I’m not talking about the country (Argentina) I’m talking about Messi because of the stuff he did,” Alvarez said in one tweet (translated by LBS).
Canelo then said that Messi better pray to God that he doesn’t run into the boxer.
Que le pida a Dios que no me lo encuentre!! 👊🏻👊🏻🤬🔥
Is Alvarez taking things too far over something more incidental? Without a doubt. But you could argue Messi should have taken better care of the jersey.
Canelo was already extremely popular and is further endearing himself to his country with those comments.
Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin sure dislike each other.
The two men are set to fight for the third time in their careers. They are doing some work promoting the third fight in their triology, which is scheduled for Sept. 17 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
During a press conference in Los Angeles Friday to promote the fight, the two had a faceoff to give photographers a chance to take pictures. The faceoff was intense:
Alvarez and GGG do not like each other. They fought to a draw in 2017. They had a rematch the following year and Alvarez won a narrow decision.
Canelo spent the next handful of years avoiding GGG, but he finally is giving Golovkin the third fight between them. GGG is 40 years old at this point, while Canelo is 31. Alvarez seems to have a lot going in his favor.
GGG has only fought once in the last 18 months, though he has gone 4-0 since his 2018 loss to Alvarez. Canelo is 57-2-2 and coming off a surprising loss to Dmitrii Bivol.
Dmitry Bivol pulled off a big upset win over Canelo Alvarez on Saturday night in Las Vegas. Then he topped it off with a great quote.
Bivol beat Alvarez by unanimous decision, handing Canelo his first loss since 2013 and just his second loss ever.
Alvarez had been looking so good that his schedule was planned many events in advance. After facing Bivol, Canelo was set to face Gennadiy Golovkin in September to complete their trilogy.
But Bivol’s surprising win spoiled those plans. Bivol, who is now 20-0, was happy to note that during his postfight comments.
“Eddie Hearn, sorry I broke your plans with Gennadiy Golovkin,” Bivol said after the fight.
Yep, Bivol definitely played the role of spoiler. Now, instead of facing GGG next, Alvarez wants a rematch with Bivol.
Canelo Alvarez said he’ll exercise the rematch clause – “it doesn’t stay like this.” Dmitry Bivol said “no problem” but he wants to be treated like a champion next time around #CaneloBivol
Canelo stepped up in weight to face Bivol. It was just his second time fighting at light heavyweight. Was the higher weight class the problem for Canelo? Maybe, but he plans to take on the challenge once again.
Canelo Alvarez lost for just the second time in his boxing career on Saturday night, and now he is hearing it from the man responsible for the first loss.
The four-division world champion Alvarez got upset in his light heavyweight title bout with Dmitry Bivol. Alvarez was thoroughly outboxed throughout the fight and lost by unanimous decision after the bout went the distance.
After Bivol was announced as the winner on Saturday, retired boxing great Floyd Mayweather Jr. trolled Alvarez on Instagram. Mayweather revealed that he had bet $10,000 on Bivol, who was a massive +425 underdog, to defeat Alvarez. The bet netted Mayweather $42,500 in profit.
“Easy pick up,” wrote Mayweather in his caption.
Mayweather and Alvarez previously met in the ring in Sept. 2013. Alvarez, who was only 23 years old at the time, entered that fight a perfect 42-0-1 in his career. But Mayweather put on a trademark defensive masterpiece and handed Alvarez the first loss of his pro career.
Alvarez had not lost again since though and had been drawing comparisons to Mayweather as one of boxing’s all-time greats (even though the two have different fighting styles). As such, Alvarez’s loss to Bivol (plus the money he made off it) had to feel pretty good for Mayweather, especially since Alvarez recently took a bit of a shot at Mayweather on social media as well.
Canelo Alvarez entered his fight against Dmitry Bivol on Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nev. as the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world. He was 57-1-2 and hadn’t lost since being defeated handily by Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2013.
For the second time in his career, Alvarez was handed a loss. And he was beaten soundly.
Bivol won a unanimous decision, as all three judges scored the fight 115-113, implying they all had it 7 rounds to 5. Many observers had Bivol winning by a greater margin than the 115-113 score all three judges had.
Bivol nearly outlanded Alvarez by double at 152-84 in the Compubox stats.
There was an incredible disparity in punch stats, as Dmitry Bivol outlanded Canelo Alvarez 152 to 84 in his 12-round fight unanimous decision win.
Bivol outlanded 46 to 10 in jabs and 106 to 74 in power shots.
Alvarez now goes down with his second professional loss and is 57-2-2 (39 KOs). He has spent several years seemingly focusing on other opponents and grander plans. Prior to the fight, he talked about moving up to heavyweight too. Maybe he really overlooked Bivol and paid the price.
Dana White had his mind on two different fight cards on Saturday night.
White, who is the president of the UFC, attended the UFC 268 pay-per-view event at Madison Square Garden in New York. He also was seen watching the Canelo Alvarez-Caleb Plant fight on a TV screen while sitting cageside at the UFC event (video here).
White was asked after UFC 268 how many more pay-per-view buys they generated than the Canelo fight card, which was distributed by Showtime pay-per-view. White, a boxing fan and former boxing trainer, said he thought it was stupid for the boxing card to compete with the UFC card. But he also said he hoped the boxing fight sold well.
White was also asked whether he paid for the fight. He gave a funny face in response as if he had been caught, and sheepishly said yes.
Given the amount of money White said he wagered on the Canelo fight, we’re guessing he threw down the $80 for the pay-per-view, despite his reaction to the question.
Canelo Alvarez and Caleb Plant went 11 hard-fought rounds on Saturday night, and both are walking away with a lot of money for their troubles.
Alvarez defeated Plant in the super middleweight unification bout to become the first undisputed champion in the history of the division. It was an entertaining fight that ended in thrilling knockout fashion (video here).
ESPN’s Mike Coppinger reported that Alvarez earned a total of $40 million guaranteed for the fight. Meanwhile, Plant, who suffered the loss of his career, still walked away with a career-high $10 million guaranteed.
Canelo Alvarez beat Caleb Plant in their fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Saturday night in Las Vegas, Nev. via 11th-round knockout, and he really delivered the pain.
Canelo dropped Plant twice in the 11th. First, he knocked down Plant with a big left hook and powerful right uppercut combination. Plant put his gloves on the canvas to regain his balance following the punishment he took. He beat the 10-count and told referee Russell Mora that he wanted to continue.
As soon as the action restarted, Alvarez attacked immediately and peppered the wobbly-legged Plant. Plant could barely defend himself after the restart. Mora let the fight continue longer than it probably should have. He finally called it off 1:05 into the 11th round after Plant hit the canvas for a second time.
Canelo retained his three super middleweight championship belts with the win and claimed Plant’s IBF title to give him four titles across the weight class.
Canelo is now 57-1-2 with 39 KOs. The previously unbeaten Plant is now 21-1.
Canelo Alvarez is one of boxing’s great rags-to-riches stories. Unfortunately, he does not think that a top young phenom is approaching the sport with the same energy.
The four-division world champion spoke this week with Adam Caparell of Complex Sports and had a sharp criticism of lightweight star Ryan Garcia. Alvarez is a mentor figure to Garcia, who trains at the same gym and shares the same trainer, Eddy Reynoso.
“Look, Ryan has a lot of talent,” said Alvarez. “But to me in my eyes, he’s wasting a lot of time and wasting his talent. I look at him and don’t see him 100 percent dedicated and, to us, that’s a bad signal. We always remind him as a team to come to the gym, to train, and to learn because you need to be in the gym.
“You’re learning day-by-day, at the very minimum fighting five times a year,” Alvarez continued. “When I was beginning my career, I did 15 fights in one year. That’s where I was at the beginning of my career. So definitely he needs to be a little more dedicated.”
The 23-year-old Garcia is a perfect 21-0 to this point of his five-year boxing career with 18 knockouts. But he has fought just three times in the last two years and counting. That pales in comparison to Alvarez, who had 35 fights in his first five years. Garcia also has a strong following on social media and often focuses on posting viral workout videos, which many see as a negative.
Granted, Garcia recently took time away from the ring because of mental health issues and is slated to face Joseph Diaz Jr. in his comeback bout on Nov. 27. But with boxing quickly taking a turn for the worse, Alvarez might be hoping to light a fire under the young guy who could help save the sport.
Jake Paul has been trying to work is way into the conversation to potentially fight Canelo Alvarez. Alvarez used to be opposed to the idea, but he has come around somewhat.
In a video published by Fight Hype on Thursday, Alvarez said “we’ll see” about the possibility of fighting Paul. He is keeping an open mind to the possibility and said “you never know.”
The best part is Paul ended up imitating Canelo.
To appreciate Paul’s video, you must first watch Canelo:
This guy is a comedian. Is it any wonder how he became so popular on social media? He knows how to be a real thorn and egg people on.
Paul is 4-0 in his pro boxing career and is powerful and skilled. But the 24-year-old still has never fought a professional boxer in the ring, much less the top pound-for-pound fighter in the world. He would be asking for a lot of trouble if he were to face Canelo. Tons of people would buy the fight though because they’d be excited to see him get drilled. At least it would be lucrative.
