A new chapter will be added to the saga of Saul "Canelo" Alvarez’s complicated relationship with Oscar De La Hoya when the undisputed super middleweight champion faces Jaime Munguia on May 4.
The Cinco de Mayo weekend showdown will mark the first time Alvarez and De La Hoya have been directly involved in a fight together since Alvarez sued Golden Boy and DAZN in 2020 and started a new career path as a promotional free agent.
De La Hoya and Golden Boy were largely responsible for building Alvarez’s profile for more than a decade, and for turning the Mexican fighter into a global superstar and top pay-per-view draw in the United States.
But the relationship started to sour and show serious fractures after Alvarez signed a five-year, 11-fight contract with DAZN in October 2018. The deal was supposed to be worth at least $365 million.
After three fights, however, Alvarez and De La Hoya separated, and ever since, they’ve traded their share of snide insults and barbs along the way.
As Alvarez (60-2-2, 39 KOs) prepares to face his fellow countryman Munguia (43-0, 34 KOs), who is co-promoted by De La Hoya and Fernando Beltran of Zanfer Promotions, he appears increasingly annoyed with De La Hoya’s involvement.
“I'm not interested in being a friend to him. I'm good where I am,” Alvarez told BoxingScene. “I have nothing to do with him. I wish all the best for him, and that's it. But I don't want him in my life. I don't want him near me or close to me. I don't want those kinds of vibes in my life.”
Alvarez’s camp negotiated a deal directly with Beltran through PBC to stage the Munguia fight on Prime Video pay-per-view. The event will also be distributed on PPV.com.
Before the fight was finalized, however, De La Hoya said he was looking forward to maintaining a working relationship with Alvarez.
But after hearing Alvarez’s latest comments, De La Hoya clapped back.
“The only thing [Alvarez has] against me is my personal life,” De La Hoya told BoxingScene. “You want to keep kicking a man while he is down, at the time?”
De La Hoya was seemingly referencing the lowlights of his life, which were documented in detail last year during a two-part documentary. In 2013, De La Hoya returned to rehab to deal with substance abuse problems during the week of Alvarez’s fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr.
“I never talk s*** about [Alvarez] in his personal life. I keep it to boxing,” said De La Hoya. “That's what I know. I have every right to criticize because I have been there as a 10-time world champion in six divisions. I know what's going on inside the ring. If he wants to attack me in my personal life, then shame on him.”
During the Alvarez-Munguia promotion, De La Hoya quipped that the press conference was boring like Alvarez’s fights. Before the event took place, De La Hoya said there was an attempt to banish him from the build-up altogether.
“Wait til I unleash,” De La Hoya teased, perhaps alluding to some of the fight-week promotional fire he has planned.
Alvarez, a four-division champion, answered back on the “boring” claims, adding that “saying stupid things” is all De La Hoya knows.
De La Hoya has previously stated that his beef with Alvarez began when he advised him to part ways with lifelong confidant and trainer Eddy Reynoso.
Alvarez slammed De La Hoya at the time for his lack of loyalty, shortly before their last fight together, against Sergey Kovalev in 2019 – a tense and turbulent ride at the time between promoter and fighter.
In recent years, De La Hoya, a Hall of Famer, has even welcomed an actual fight against Alvarez.
Since the 51-year-old De La Hoya’s days of fighting are officially over, he’s pegging his 27-year-old pupil Munguia to get the job done instead, in what he believes is a fading Alvarez, at age 33.
“[Canelo is beatable] because of all the wear and tear,” said De La Hoya. “When Canelo was Munguia's age, he was a dangerous fighter. He still is, but it's like a new Ferrari versus a classic Ferrari. You can't push the classic Ferrari to the limit anymore.
“Jaime will be the next guy. He'll be the man. It'll be the passing of the torch [when he beats Alvarez]. We've had Canelo for some time, and he's in the fourth quarter of his career. Now is the time for the new blood and a new fighter to take the reins.”
Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist, writer and broadcast reporter. He’s also a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the MMA Journalists Association. He can be reached on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan, through email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com or via www.ManoukAkopyan.com.
