Canelo Alvarez is poised to challenge for Christian Mbilli’s WBC super-middleweight title at the end of the month. Now, former promoter Oscar De La Hoya has offered his opinion on the bout.
Canelo is set to step through the ropes for a super-middleweight contest as a non-champion for the first time since he claimed both Callum Smith’s WBA (Super) and the vacant WBC world title with a unanimous decision win back in 2020.
In his first outing since losing the 168lb throne last September, the Mexican superstar is set to take on Mbilli in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – looking to bring the Frenchman’s reign to an early end in what will be a first title defence for ‘Soilde’.
On The Ariel Helwani Show, De La Hoya fumed at Canelo for not fighting in Mexico or on a Mexican holiday – which he has done for much of his career – labelling the four-division world champion as a ‘sell out’.
“I’m not [surprised to see Canelo fighting in Saudi Arabia], he is a sell out. I mean, you have the biggest Mexican fighter on the planet fighting on Halloween?
“You should be fighting in September, you should be fighting on your Mexican holidays. The final leg of your career, the final hurrah – go out there and fight for your Mexican fans, fight on the dates that we feel proud to support you on, September and May.
“Those are historically the biggest days in boxing, not fights at 3am in the morning against a guy who – I respect all fighters, I respect Mbilli – but I really don’t know how he got there.”
Despite the criticism from De La Hoya, Canelo did recently state that he wants his retirement bout, whenever that is, to be in Mexico.
