Boxing champion Canelo Alvarez has hit back at a pundit after he was branded a "coward" for threatening Lionel Messi.
Alvarez was enraged when after Argentina beat Mexico 2-0 at the World Cup on Saturday when footage showed Messi appearing to kick the jersey of a player with whom he had swapped shirts. The footage is grainy and appears to show Messi's foot grazing the jersey, but it irked the boxing champion enough that he threatened the Argentine football icon.
“Did you guys see Messi cleaning the floor with our jersey and flag,” Canelo wrote in a series of tweets. “He better pray to God that I don’t find him. Just as I respect Argentina, you have to respect Mexico! I’m not talking about the country, I’m talking about Messi because of the bulls*** he did. Since the Mexico shirt is on the ground, it’s already an insult. Stop bulls***ing about what was or wasn’t.”
Alvarez then found himself in a Twitter war of words with David Faitelson, a Mexican reporter for ESPN, after his comments towards Messi, with the writer branding him "cowardly". Amid other comments, he joked that instead of getting annoyed at the footballer, the boxer should instead focus on a rematch with Dmitry Bivol, who beat him earlier this year.
In one tweet, Faitelson said: "Why, instead of wasting time on cheap controversies, don't you already look for a rematch with the Russian? Look, threatening a soccer player seems very cowardly to me..." In another tweet, he told Alvarez: "Do you now feel like the defender of the homeland? The "clown" suit doesn't fit you, Canelo. You are a serious boxer. Keep it up…"
What did you make of Canelo Alvarez's outburst towards Lionel Messi? Let us know in the comments section below!
Alvarez hit back at the journalist, telling him that he is an "angel" when the pair see each other in person before acting tough on social media. "Coward you b****** because when you have me in front of you you are an angel," Alvarez said in response to being told his message was cowardly.
The footage of Messi angered many Mexican fans, most notably Alvarez, but appears to be ambiguous and could easily be a miscommunication. However, the boxer is angry that the jersey was on the floor in the first place, believing that to be enough disrespect whether Messi kicked it or not.
Alvarez most recently defeated Gennady Golovkin in a trilogy bout to defend his undisputed super-middleweight titles at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, and is now taking some time off to recover from injuries. He is expected to rematch Bivol next year around the Cinco de Mayo holiday, and could also face Brit John Ryder who is his mandatory challenger at 168lb.
