Canelo Alvarez was taken aback by the recent praise he received from his old rival Floyd Mayweather.
The pair haven’t had many nice things to say about each other over the years, but ‘TBE’ was one of the few figures in boxing that defended Canelo for choosing Jaime Munguia instead of David Benavidez as his next opponent.
While many members of the boxing fraternity slammed Canelo for ‘ducking’ Benavidez, Mayweather recently came out and stated that the Mexican superstar has ‘nothing left to prove’.
In a later interview, he even backed Canelo to become a future Hall of Famer as he heaped praise onto his former foe.
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Responding to Mayweather’s kind words, Canelo told Little Giant Boxing: “I feel happy because he knows everything.
“That was coming from him, who has been and done everything, so I feel special.
“I feel good. I’m here to make history, and that’s it, and I’m going to continue to do it.”
Canelo boxes Munguia on May 4 at the T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas live on Amazon Prime PPV in a new one-fight deal with Al Haymon’s PBC.
Munguia is one of the most promising contenders in the thriving super-middleweight division.
The 27-year-old is a former WBO super-welterweight world champion and holds solid wins at 168lbs over Sergiy Derevyanchenko and John Ryder.
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However, most boxing fans wanted to see Canelo box Benavidez next.
‘The Monster’ is widely considered to be the No.1 contender to Canelo’s undisputed crown and according to his promoter, Sampson Lewkowicz, PBC were keen to match both fighters up on Cinco de Mayo weekend.
In a now-deleted tweet, Lekowicz insisted Canelo had rejected a $55million (£43.4m) offer made by Haymon’s promotional outfit to stage the fight.
The former pound-for-pound king’s camp has since denied these claims with Canelo going on to affirm he will not fight Benavidez for less than $150m (£118.5m).
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“If a promoter who I work with offers $150m or $200m then I will fight tomorrow. That’s the only reason I will fight with him,” he told assembled media last week.
Provided he wins that bout he will be in a strong position to campaign for a fight against either Canelo or the winner of the undisputed light-heavyweight clash between Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev.
