By: Sean Crose
“The past few days I have been swept away by the passion and love I have for my country,” Canelo Alvarez posted on social media on Wednesday, “and I have made comments that are out of order so I want to sorry to Messi and everyone of Argentina.” Hopefully, that will be the end of that. “Every day we learn something new,” added the boxer, “and this time it was I who learned.” Canelo, who is usually shameless, went a bit overboard earlier this week after Argentina beat Mexico in the World Cup.
A video emerged of the Argentina team celebrating the win in the dressing room on Sunday. Canelo then accused Argentina player Lionel Messi of insulting the Mexican team’s jersey in the footage. Boxing internals wrote: “To be fair, the video appears to show Messi absentmindedly pushing the shirt aside with his feet while his teammates sing around him.” Canelo, however, clearly disagrees.
“Did you see Messi mopping the floor with our jerseys and flags?” red haired star tweeted. He then added that Messi “better pray to God that I don’t find him. Just as I respect Argentina, he must respect Mexico! I’m not talking about the country, I’m just talking about what Messi did.” Suffice it to say that the tweets set the internet on fire. Even the captain of Mexico has to speak for Messi. “Maybe Canelo doesn’t understand what’s going on in the dressing room,” CNN quoted by Andres Guardado.
Suffice it to say, no one who follows sports would be surprised to hear fans overreacted. Furthermore, the World Cup pits nation against nation. However, as a fighter, Canelo’s words carry an inherent sense of threat. However, once again, the man apologized. Furthermore, Canelo was never known for being loud. As Canelo himself made it clear, everyone has a hard time.
Meanwhile, the multi-part list is recovering well from recent surgery on his left hand. Having just defeated arch-rival Gennady Golovkin in his third bout this past fall, Canelo hopes to return to the ring in the spring. John Ryder was mentioned as a possible opponent, as was Dmitry Bivol, the WBA lightweight boxer who beat Canelo last year, leaving the greatest boxing star with only his second loss in 62 match.
