Canelo drags De La Hoya with flurry of expletives

Even by boxing standards, the pre-fight press conference for Canelo Alvarez and Jaime Munguia degenerated into a farcical exchange of insults. Munguia was relegated to somewhat of a bystander as Canelo ripped Oscar De La Hoya in Spanish and then cursed him out in near perfect English.

Alvarez and Munguia held their final joint press conference Wednesday in Las Vegas ahead of their Cinco de Mayo weekend bout. Canelo will put his undisputed super middleweight world title on the line Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

The fight will be a PBC Pay-Per-View event on Prime Video. Munguia and Alvarez have been rather respectful toward each other leading up to the bout, but Canelo has clear hatred toward De La Hoya.

After calling him an imbecile and a scam artist in Spanish, Canelo then capped his comments in English by cursing out the 1992 Olympics gold medalist.

Canelo calls De La Hoya ‘imbecile’

“And for this imbecile I have to my left, he better not forget that I came to this country already being ‘Canelo,’” the Mexican champion said of the Mexican American De La Hoya, his former promoter.

It’s no secret that Alvarez despises De La Hoya, who promotes Munguia through Golden Boy Promotions. Canelo clearly resents that De La Hoya claims that he made him a star.

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“I would be remiss if I didn’t respond to the man I used to promote,” De La Hoya said. “He seems to have trouble remembering who helped him become a true global star. To be clear, I have nothing but respect for Canelo Alvarez as a fighter. His record and abilities speak for themselves, 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 (expletive) respect on it.”

As De La Hoya spoke, Canelo taunted him and essentially called him a fraud. He called him a “pendejo” numerous times. Canelo ridiculed De La Hoya for reading from a prepared statement.

De La Hoya took some heat

“You don’t write anything,” Alvarez said in Spanish. “You’re a pendejo. … You’re a pendejo only with an image, idiot.”

In Spanish, “pendejo” translates to something worse than “idiot.” Leaving nothing to translation, Alvarez insulted De La Hoya in English with a series of expletives.

“He tried to steal money, and he’s a (expletive) —hole,” Alvarez said. “That’s what I said. He’s a (expletive) a–hole. He tried to [bring] attention to (himself), not for Munguia. He’s a (expletive) a–hole. He steals from his fighter. That’s what he (does).”

Alvarez also encouraged fighters to have good lawyers if De La Hoya promotes them.

“This is going to be a great Mexican war,” Canelo said. “Munguia and I both come to win, but I am going to win and win decisively. The fans are really going to enjoy Saturday night, and I’m proud to make history with two Mexican fighters fighting for all four belts.”