By Miguel Rivera, photo by Hoganphotos
Things got more heated during the final stop of the media tour to promote the big fight between Canelo Alvarez and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.
Canelo and Chavez Jr. went face to face in Mexico, New York City, Houston - and on Friday they squared up once again in Los Angeles. While the first stop of the tour was cordial, the two Mexican superstars were trading words on a regular basis with each passing city.
Their HBO Pay-Per-View fight takes place on May 6th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The fight takes place at a catch-weight of 164.5-pounds. Canelo, who is the WBO world champion at 154-pounds, is moving up. And Chavez Jr. is dropping down from his last fight fighting weight of 168-pounds.
According to Canelo, Chavez Jr. had the entire world at his feet - as the namesake of the man who most regard as the greatest Mexican fighter of all-time, Julio Cesar Chavez Sr.
He feels Chavez Jr. allowed everything to collapse and dropped the ball in a big way.
"I think [Chavez Jr.] had a good start to his career, when his father was retiring, because he had the support of the television networks since he started fighting. I don't know what happened to him behind the scenes, his personal life fell apart, his career stagnated and now he started to dedicate himself as of late," Canelo told ESPN Deportes.
"I think he should have taken advantage of all that [hype as Chavez's son], because if you can imagine .. being Julio Cesar Chavez's son is incredible [as a fighter]. I personally watch videos of his dad, how he threw combinations, how he fought. I really like it."
"I try to follow Julio César, his movements and combinations... obviously in my style because everyone has his style, but his movements and combinations. What I think is that [Chavez Jr.] should have taken advantage of all that, although one can never know what happened [behind the scenes]."