Midnight Mania: CEAST AND DESIST!

Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images

Bringing you the weird and wild from the world of MMA each and every weeknight! Welcome to Midnight Mania!
Canelo Alvarez is less than 24 hours away from another high-profile bo…


Canelo Alvarez v Jaime Munguia - Weigh-in
Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images

Bringing you the weird and wild from the world of MMA each and every weeknight!

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Canelo Alvarez is less than 24 hours away from another high-profile boxing match. This time, the knockout artist is set for a high-profile showdown opposite Jaime Munguia this Saturday night (May 4, 2024) LIVE on DAZN boxing pay-per-view (PPV) from inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

It’s a huge fight for Alvarez, who may be slowing down a bit at this stage in his career. Meanwhile, Munguia is exciting and undefeated (43-0), so the potential for fireworks is obvious. Of course, he’s never faced anyone quite like Canelo!

It’s not, however, Alvarez’s only clash this week. At the pre-fight press conference on Wednesday, Alvarez tore into Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya, labeling him a scammer, thief, and asshole. De La Hoya didn’t take kindly to those words and responded with his own barbs, but he’s also threatened legal action.

Based on the social media post above, De La Hoya is at least partially living up to his threat. He hasn’t yet sued Canelo, but he has issued a cease and desist letter. It reads as follows:

“At yesterday’s press conference your client, Canelo Alvarez, falsely accused my client, Oscar De La Hoya, of stealing from boxers. He said this outrageous lie not once, but several times — both in English and Spanish — and it has now been republished to millions around the world.

You surely understand the legal implications of such blatantly false allegations … He falsely accused Oscar of a crime with specific intention of supposedly warning other boxers not to do business with Oscar or Golden Boy. Clearly, Canelo intentionally defamed Oscar and Golden Boy.

Canelo’s statements were also made with actual malice. Obviously, Canelo harbors great animosity and ill-will towards Oscar (repeatedly referring to him as a “f—king asshole” and even stooping to using a derogatory slur regarding gay people to try and insult Oscar). But Canelo also knows full well that neither Oscar nor Golden Boy ever stole anything from him or anyone else. In fact, Golden Boy has paid Canelo every penny he was entitled to receive from his fights with Golden Boy … Canelo knows that it was Oscar and Golden Boy who established Canelo’s current market value with the groundbreaking deals they negotiated for him. Although Canelo may be disappointed that his career has plateaued since he left Godlen Boy, that disappointment does not justify making such outrageous defamatory statements.

Accordingly, we hereby demand that Canelo cease and desist from making any further false and preposterous allegations against Oscar and Golden Boy. We also demand that Canelo immediately retract his defamatory allegations that Oscar stole from boxers. Oscar and Golden Boy reserve all rights to sue Canelo for the damages caused by these defamatory accusations, including punitive damages designed to ensure Canelo learns his lesson.”

Maybe after Canelo’s boxing match wraps up, he’ll have time to retract his statement and apologize? Or, more likely, he’ll share some more choice words with De La Hoya.

Stay tuned for further developments.

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