Kamaru Usman and Canelo Alvarez are now cool and have cleared the air on their contentious past on social media.
A few years ago, when Usman reigned as UFC welterweight champion, he relentlessly called for a cross-over boxing match against Alvarez, who’s arguably the biggest star in boxing and considered by many as the pound-for-pound best of recent years. Alvarez, who never paid too much attention to the MMA world, would sometimes ignore Usman and sometimes clap back, saying he was just in need of a “payday.”
Now, a few years later, after their back-and-forth, Usman had Alvarez on his “Pound 4 Pound” podcast ahead of Alvarez’s Sept. 14 title defense against Edgar Berlanga and made sure to address the “elephant in the room” right off the bat.
“Obviously, when I was champion in the UFC, I was welterweight champion of the world, and you dominated as champion in boxing, there were some talks about potentially fighting,” Usman said. “First and foremost, I’m a fan of yours. I’m a fan of your work and everything you’ve done in the sport of boxing. I think it’s important for us to clear the air and have this type of conversation.”
Usman explained to Alvarez that the callout was never personal. It came from wanting to test Canelo and wanting to secure a big money fight.
“Obviously we’re competitors, and we want to compete, and of course when we started this competition in our respective sports, we didn’t necessarily get in it for money, you get into it to be the best at it, to compete. But then you get to a certain point where, ‘Hey, the paycheck makes it worthwhile.’ All the years that you work, and you put into it, the paycheck makes it worthwhile.
“You were in a spot where you were dominating everyone to the point the question was being asked, ‘Who else can challenge this guy? Is there anything that anyone has for him?’ At that moment, I threw my hat in, let me at least give him a different look. I’m not a technical boxer. I feel like you know all the pieces of the puzzle when it comes to boxing. … I felt that mine is different. I’m a mixed martial artist. I’m an MMA fighter. They might come slower, but the combinations might be different from what you’re used to. So that’s why I threw my hand in the mix and said I’d love to give him something different, a different look. And who knows, at the end of the day, we know as fighters anything can happen in a fight. That’s what it was. I hope there’s no hard feelings because I respect you as a fighter.”
Alvarez was receptive to Usman’s comments and said they were cool. He did stick to his guns in saying that Usman has no business with him in the ring, but also vice versa.
“No hard feelings,” Alvarez said. “I think this is a beautiful sport, and you’re the best in your sport, and I’m the best in my sport, and I respect that. We’re never going to know because we never made the fight, but I always said that’s why you chose MMA and I chose boxing. If I go in there with you in an MMA fight, it’s going to be different. If you come to my sport, it’s going to be different. I know the mentality of, ‘I can do it. I can do this,’ but when you go in the ring it’s very different.”
