By Ryan Burton
Back in February, it was reported that Mexican rivals Canelo Alvarez and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. had both agreed to bet their multi-million dollar purses on the outcome their May 6th showdown that takes place at the T-Mobile Arena in As Vegas. The fight will be distributed by HBO pay-per-view.
Shortly after the bet was made, the legendary Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. stated during an interview on ESPN Deportes' 'Golpe a Golpe' that the bet was off.
"We don't want Canelo's money, it doesn't interest us," said the elder Chavez. "We are only interested in the prestige and glory."
BoxingScene.com and a small group of reporters recently caught up with Golden Boy Promotion's stakeholder Bernard Hopkins, who promotes Canelo, and he offered a different take on why the bet isn't happening.
"They called it off. Let me tell you what happened. I don't know exactly what happened but I got enough street smarts to know when someone runs their mouth and you lose your bet and you can't pay - then you can't come outside no more. At least not in Philly. The word got back to daddy," said Hopkins with respect to the moment Chavez Jr's father found out.
"You know who daddy is right? Senior. And Senior said, 'what?' He said, 'listen, do you want to lose now or lose May 6th?' Off bet. Off bet. That is what happened when the dust settled. Listen, certain guys, not all, when they want to bet, there be a lot of emotions and then somebody sits back and says that's 10 grand or 50 grand.
"To me, from the mental strength and to have a fighter believe - you got to have psychology skills. Guess what? I would have never called that bet off. You don't call off no bet after you are so loud about it. No. No, you don't cut a bet off because what you give Canelo is, 'wait a minute. There is nothing against the rules to bet so you can't use that excuse.' How are you going to off your bet in Las Vegas? You can't do that at the table or they will be handcuffing you and taking you upstairs.
"Let me tell you something, when you make moves like that, somebody is unsure. That is leverage big time. That doesn't mean you don't train or you don't take the fight serious but why give a guy like Canelo another reason to be confident? When things get hard, I believe in my heart, once a quitter, always a quitter [Hopkins taking a shot at Chavez Jr. for not coming out for the tenth round of his bout with Andrzej Fonfara]."
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