Eddie Hearn has revealed that Canelo Alvarez pulled him up on his comments ahead of his September super fight against Terence Crawford.
Hearn, who has previously promoted both Canelo and Crawford, will not be involved on September 13 with UFC president Dana White promoting the undisputed super middleweight title fight in Las Vegas, live on Netflix.
The Matchroom boss was ringside on May 3 in Riyadh as Alvarez reclaimed the undisputed championship with a unanimous decision win over William Scull.
Hearn has since questioned whether the Mexican great would opt to retire instead of facing Crawford, a sentiment Alvarez took issue with.
“He messaged me the other day because he didn’t like something that I said,” the 46-year-old said on The Ariel Helwani Show.
“What I said was, when I was watching the William Scull fight live in the arena, I was thinking to myself I actually wouldn’t be that surprised if Canelo didn’t fight again.
“I didn’t think he look motivated.
“We didn’t have an argument, but he just said, ‘what was that [about]?’
“And I said, ‘you didn’t look motivated to me.’
“That’s probably because it was William Scull and he was running around the ring doing anything he could not to engage in a fight.
“That night made me really think about who is going to win this fight, because with Crawford he is so confident.
“He has no doubt in his mind that he is going to win this fight and anyone who has movement is going to cause Canelo problems at this stage in his career.”
Alvarez has won six on the bounce since suffering the second defeat of his professional career to Dmitry Bivol, going the distance in all six bouts.
The 34-year-old has beaten the likes of Edgar Berlanga, Jaime Munguia and Jermell Charlo on that run, but Hearn believes he’ll have to put in a considerably better display to overcome Crawford, despite the Omaha man moving up two divisions.
“Canelo’s got to switch up everything he’s been doing in the last few fights,” he added.
“A William Scull performance will not beat Terence Crawford.
“I don’t think an Edgar Berlanga will beat Terence Crawford.
“I don’t think a Jaime Munguia performance or a Charlo performance will beat Terence Crawford.
“So Canelo is going to have to produce a quality performance to beat him and can he do that at this stage in his career?
“I do think this is the kind of fight that is going to motivate Canelo, who is a true great, whose work ethic is second to none, to put in a great performance.
“Will it be enough?
“Just got a sneaky feeling for Terence Crawford.”
