Canelo Alvarez says his relationship with Oscar De La Hoya is strictly business

Canelo Alvarez and his promoter Oscar De La Hoya have had many reports come out this past year that would indicate they’re not on the best of terms. You might think that someone helping you land a $365M deal would make you besties, but alas, that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Anyone who’s been paying a little attention to the pair have seen Canelo sort of distance himself from De La Hoya in public, basically never talking about him other than how it pertains to business or mentioning how De La Hoya has a propensity to say stupid things. That’s not quite what you’d expect from what was once a mentor-mentee relationship.

And during yesterday’s final press conference there appeared to be more unspoken tension between the fighter and promoter, with them both on stage sitting next to each other but without really ever acknowledging the other’s presence, as reported by ESPN.

So when Canelo was specifically asked about it current relationship with De La Hoya and the De La Hoya’s name popping up in the news, and not in a good way, the Mexican fighter made it clear that it’s strictly business between them at this point.

“It’s only a working relationship,” Alvarez said through an interpreter. “These types of problems are part of a working relationship, and I take it that way. I came here to fight as a boxer and not to talk about legal situations.”

Canelo still has a number of fights left on his current DAZN deal, and De La Hoya has recently mentioned that Canelo’s promotionally tied to his company for a while longer, but it’s hard to see this situation ending amicably when it’s all said and done.