Canelo Álvarez and Óscar de la Hoya fight at a press conference

It wasn’t above the ring, they didn’t put on gloves, there was no physical contact, but what there was was shouts, insults and a fight between Óscar de la Hoya, former promoter of “Canelo”, and Saúl Álvarez Barragán himself, this during the press conference prior to the fight that will be held next Saturday against Jaime Munguía in Las Vegas.

De la Hoya, who today is Jaime Munguía’s promoter, spoke of a failed anti-doping test presented by the Jalisco native.

“I want to respond to the man that I promoted and who became a great star in the world of boxing, I come to demand respect from Canelo and let’s see if his record ends up speaking for him,” he said.

“He has insulted me in some other way by trying to avoid me, by not being able to generate the development of this fight, and “I tried to generate the best part of my side as a mentor of Saúl’s career in that period, so for decades, so I ask you for a little respect,” De la Hoya continued.

Given this, Álvarez Barragán couldn’t hold back the urge and took the microphone when it didn’t belong to him, insulting the former Mexican-American boxer.

“This is a scourge of boxing, whoever is with him, bring in his lawyers because he is surely robbing them, “The only thing that comes is to steal attention from Jaime Munguía, he does not come to promote him,” snapped “El Canelo.”

How did this conflict arise?

De la Hoya and Álvarez had a legal dispute in September 2020, when the four-time world champion sued the promoter Golden Boy Promotions and the live streaming platform DAZN for breach of contract.

Álvarez asked for $280 million in compensation because he considered that the businessman blocked him from fighting for several months and thus caused him considerable economic losses.

DAZN and Álvarez signed a contract in 2018 for 11 fights in 5 years in exchange for $365 million, which made him the highest-paid athlete in the world at the time.

In the end, “Canelo” managed to break away from Golden Boy Promotions, but his dispute with De la Hoya continued.