The majority of the time, fights at boxing news conferences are fake, set up to help boost ticket and/or pay-per-view sales. But nothing was fake when Canelo Alvarez arose from his seat at the dais at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on Wednesday and took a few steps toward former promoter Oscar De La Hoya.
The two have exchanged words for years, and it reached a crescendo on Wednesday when after De La Hoya called Alvarez a drug cheat, Alvarez responded by firing curses in De La Hoya's direction and later accusing him of being a thief.
Alvarez, who is set to defend the undisputed super middleweight title against Jaime Munguia on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in a bout streamed by both PPV.com and Prime Video, was separated before he could get to De La Hoya. De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions once promoted Alvarez and now promotes Munguia.
When De La Hoya got to the podium to speak on Wednesday, it was clearly designed to get under Alvarez's skin. Alvarez is not only one of the best fighters in the world, he's a veteran with 60 professional wins to his credit and titles in four weight classes. He's as high as a 6-1 favorite to defeat Munguia. So De La Hoya clearly chose to try to irritate Alvarez and perhaps throw him off of his game.
We won't know until Saturday if De La Hoya's gambit was successful. If Alvarez fights angry and takes risks in order to dole out punishment to De La Hoya's fighter, he could make mistakes that would open the door for Munguia. Alvarez is too good and too smart for that, but it was worth a shot and De La Hoya played it. He got up and unloaded on Alvarez, who was seated a few feet to his right.
De La Hoya's entire speech at the dais:
"I have nothing but respect for Canelo Alvarez as a fighter, his record and [his] abilities speak for themselves," De La Hoya started. "But he has spent much of the last two months insulting me rather than promoting this fight, so I'll make it a little bit easier for him. Yes, I have faced a lot of challenges in my life. Yes, I've been to rehab several times. Yes, there were some really low points in my life. And yes, there were times that work was not my priority based on my mental health, which I had neglected for so long. But that doesn't change the fact that Golden Boy built Canelo Alvarez, period. The company you fought under for decades has always had one name and it's mine. So put some f*cking respect on it.
"As for Jaime, he has always dared to be great. This serves as a bit of a full circle for him. Remember when Jaime was 21 years old, he volunteered to step in against [Gennadiy Golovkin] when 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."
Toward the end of De La Hoya's speech, Alvarez began speaking in Spanish. At one point, he asked De La Hoya in Spanish who wrote the script for him. Then, he unleashed a torrent of curses.
He later referred to De La Hoya as "an asshole" among other unflattering terms, and De La Hoya seemed to indicate he may file a defamation suit against Alvarez for calling him a thief.
Ticket sales are lagging and pay-per-view sales aren't expected to be great, particularly by Alvarez's lofty standards. But despite that, this was not a put-on show but real animosity between two of the biggest names in the sport.
Alvarez signed a long-term deal with Golden Boy and broadcaster DAZN in 2018, but Alvarez sued them in 2020 to break the deal. The sides settled and Alvarez went his way. He's worked with DAZN again, but has steadfastly refused to work with Golden Boy until the Munguia fight. The Fernando Beltran-owned Zanfer Promotions is Munguia's co-promoter, along with Golden Boy.
Who won this battle is a matter of opinion, but it's not often that a promoter and a boxer nearly come to blows during a news conference. The look on Alvarez's face, a disdainful sneer, said all that needed to be said about his take.
Esther Lin/Premier Boxing Champions
Canelo Alvarez glares at Oscar De La Hoya (foreground) as he makes comments during the news conference Wednesday at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas to promote his fight against Jaime Munguia on Saturday.