By Radio Rahim
Former two division world champion Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez issued a warning to UFC featherweight world champion Conor McGregor, who recently took at aim at the Mexican superstar.
McGregor accused Canelo of being a cherry picker, which means the boxer prefers to take easy fights.
Canelo has taken a lot of heat in 2016. He took a lot of criticism back in May, when he defended his WBC middleweight belt against welterweight contender Amir Khan at a catch-weight of 155-pounds. More critics came out when he vacated that same title as the WBC's purse bid loomed for a mandatory defense against Gennady Golovkin.
“If you look at the history of the fight game, especially in this new era, it’s full of stars cherry-picking their opponents. When they hold a position of power, when they get a name, all of a sudden they pick weaker opponents. They look down their division. Nobody looks up a division. Nobody looks at true challenges," McGregor told Lance Pugmire of The Los Angeles Times.
“Then, once in a blue moon, when that true challenge can’t be denied, like the [Floyd] Mayweather-[Manny] Pacquiao situation, it happens. But when you look at this Canelo [Alvarez] situation, it’s an era of cherry picking.”
McGregor, in recent months, has been pondering the idea of fighting Floyd Mayweather Jr. in a boxing match - and he believes that he can hand the retired pound-for-pound king the first defeat of his pro career.
If McGregor is ready to step into a boxing ring, Canelo is ready to teach him a lesson.
"If he wants to try out boxing - any time he wants. If he wants to come over to this side of the world and try boxing - any time he wants - to see that it's not as easy as he thinks," Canelo told BoxingScene.com.