By Luis Sandoval

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez is one of Mexico’s most recognizable names and most popular fighters today. He has that in common with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr as both fighters are young, undefeated, world champions and are highly supported by the Mexican boxing community.

While we haven’t seen both fighters go head to head in the ring, they will be competing with one another as they are both staging fights on September 15th in Las Vegas, NV literally only a few miles from each other.  It’s another chapter in the long feud between their promoters Golden Boy Promotions and Top Rank but it also appears to be one in the brewing feud between both fighters as well.

In an interview with ESPN, Chavez claimed Alvarez was using him to make a name for himself. He even went on to say his fight with Martinez was more meaningful and Alvarez’s fight would only be remembered as him fighting a smaller fighter.

BoxingScene spoke exclusively to Alvarez during his training camp and was asked what his reaction was to Chavez Jr’s comments and how he feels being attacked for no apparent reason.

“I don’t know why he says I’m making my name off him when I never talk about him. He always mentions me everywhere. Simply he should do his career and I’ll do mine. If one day we face off it will be a different story. But I don’t have him on my mind all the time like he does me” Alvarez told Boxingscene.

Trainer Eddie Reynoso also doesn’t appreciate Chavez’s comments regarding his fighter. While he says they aren’t a distraction, he doesn’t feel that type of bad mouthing is necessary. He’s always taught all his fighters from the beginning to keep a professional ethic.

“Boxing is a serious sport. It’s a man’s sport. It’s not a neighborhood gossip where ‘Oh he did this. Oh he did that’. We focus on our work and we know in the ring two men get in there to fight and to box and put their life on the line. That doesn’t give us time to be criticizing the rest of the fighters and much less talk bad about them” expressed Reynoso.

“Honestly for me, that’s girl stuff. They are vulgarities. Any fighter that talks about another colleague doesn’t make sense to me because like I say, this is a man’s sport where you’re risking your life and you don’t talk bad about a fellow fighter”.

Out of curiosity I asked Alvarez if he had ever talked to Chavez Jr before and if there was any type of relationship between them.

“Only one time we’ve bumped into each other. Only one time I’ve seen him. We greeted each other and it was fine. But that’s how it goes I guess” said Canelo.

Even with Chavez Jr comments, he’s the last thing Canelo is thinking about. His main focus is Josesito Lopez and he’s training extremely hard for the fight as he will not be underestimating him.

You can follow Luis Sandoval on Twitter @Truewest007. You can also tune in to The Boxing Lab, Boxingscene’s official audio show every Tuesday from 6-8PM PST with hosts Ernest Gabion, Luis Sandoval, and Ryan Burton.