Canelo Rips the WBC, Talks GGG Fight

Canelo Alvarez spoke to the media on Tuesday ahead of his clash with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr this weekend in Las Vegas. One topic that got the Mexican star unexpectedly heated was the actions of the WBC, who he feels were disrespectful to him in their handling of him vacating his title last year.

After beating Amir Khan last summer, Canelo was poised for a mandatory fight with Gennady Golovkin, the fight that boxing fans have been clamoring for. Canelo ended up vacating his WBC belt and moving to the 154 lb. division, his team claiming that they were willing to fight GGG but would not be forced to follow the sanctioning body’s deadlines.

Now, with the Chavez fight on deck and a potential September showdown with GGG looming, Canelo says that the WBC intentionally looked to discredit him by suggesting that he was afraid of fighting Golovkin.

"They made us look like I just let the title vacate or I gave it to Golovkin," Canelo said. "Because look, we had that legal thing in Miami. We were in court and they wanted us in 15 days to resolve everything while we were in court. So we had a lot of things going on, and they made us look like I gave away the belt because I was afraid. No, I’m not afraid of anyone."

The situation left such a bad taste in Canelo’s mouth that he says he’ll make sure the WBC is not involved if the fight with Golovkin does go down in September.

"If that fight happens it will be without the WBC title," he said.