by Carlos Boogs

Eddie Hearn, promoter of IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook (36-0, 25KOs), has fired back at Mexican superstar Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez (47-1-1, 33KOs).

In a recent interview, Canelo blasted the upcoming fight between Brook and middleweight king Gennady 'GGG' Golovkin (35-0, 32KOs).

Golovkin will defend the WBC/IBO/IBF/WBA middleweight titles against Brook on September 10th at the O2 Arena in London. Brook will be moving up by thirteen pounds to challenge Golovkin for the belts. HBO and Sky Sports Box Office will carry the fight.

Canelo called Brook a sacrificial lamb, with little chance of victory. He expects Brook to get knocked out inside the distance.

"Is Brook being sacrificed? No doubt about it. We all know what’s going to happen in the fight, I’m not too interested in the fight itself but he’s going to knock Brook out," Canelo said.

Canelo has dropped back to junior middleweight and returns one week later on September 17th, when he takes on undefeated Liam Smith for the WBO junior middleweight championship. The fight will take place at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas with HBO Pay-Per-View and BoxNation carrying the event.

Earlier this year, the World Boxing Council had ordered Canelo, who held the WBC title at 160, to make a mandatory defense against Golovkin. The WBC attempted to pressure Canelo and he responded by vacating the belt. The sanctioning body then name Golovkin as the full champion by default.

Hearn has called Canelo's career into question. He says the Mexican fighter is "running" from Golovkin.

"It's not my place to criticize fighters, but Canelo and Golovkin may go down as the biggest duck of all-time. You get mandated to fight a guy for your title, and you vacate and move down.... People talk about the similarities of Brook-Golovkin to Canelo against Khan..... the only similarities, the only association there is that you had two guys who were ducking the other two," Hearn explained to BoxingScene.com's Declan Taylor.

"Canelo-Golovkin is the biggest fight in world boxing. He's running from Golovkin. He's talking after [his last fight in] the ring - 'we'll do this, I'm proud, etc.' - The fight is there. Golovkin is the easiest guy to deal with. [Golovkin's promoter] Tom Loeffler is the easiest [guy to negotiate with and] make a fight. [Canelo] don't want the fight."

"In terms of Kell being sacrificed. This is no sacrifice. He's moving up two divisions to try to do something that you won't do - and that's fight Gennady Golovkin, the most feared fighter in world boxing. So I think Kell deserves a lot of respect. Canelo can say what he wants, but come September the 11th he'll be calling for a fight with Kell Brook."