Canelo Alvarez raised eyebrows as he arrived at Ryan Garcia vs Luke Campbell wearing a Matchroom branded face mask on Saturday night in Texas.
The pound-for-pound king caught the attention of many fans who spotted the mask and wondered if he was sending a subtle message to his former promoter Oscar De La Hoya.
The Mexican wore a mask with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom logo on it
Canelo worked with De La Hoya for a large part of his career, but their relationship broke down over the past couple of years.
In September, Canelos team initiated legal proceedings against De La Hoya, his company Golden Boy and broadcaster DAZN.
They ultimately settled for a clean break and secured the fighter’s free agency.
Tom Hogan – Hogan Photos/Golden Boy
Canelo split from De La Hoya and Golden Boy
In stepped Eddie Hearn and his company Matchroom, who negotiated with Canelo’s trainer/manager Eddy Reynoso to bring him back to DAZN for the Callum Smith fight.
Following that win, Hearn has confirmed they are in talks to work together further in 2021.
When he attended Garcia vs Campbell on Saturday, this was Canelo’s first appearance back at an event promoted by Golden Boy.
He turned up to support his gymmate Garcia, but some believe he also used the Matchroom branded face mask to subtly ‘troll’ De La Hoya.
Tom Hogan – Hogan Photos/Golden Boy
Canelo and Garcia train together
Reynoso has revealed that Canelo is eyeing a quick turnaround.
Their idea is to get his WBC mandatory Avni Yildirim out of the way in a Guadalajara homecoming on February 27 before then taking a big fight in May.
Regarding what’s next for Canelo, Hearn told Ak and Barak on SiriusXM: We did a one-fight deal with the Callum Smith fight
Were now in talks with Eddy Reynoso and his team about doing Yildirim his immediate mandatory and then the Billy Joe Saunders fight in May.
Hearn promoted Canelo vs Smith
I think what we saw first time was round one of bidding for Canelo Alvarez.
And us Matchroom and DAZN won round one of bidding.
Now were in round two, so can we win round two of bidding?
I think we have a really successful relationship with them. He loved the show, he loved us working together, he was blown away by the ring walk.
So I think we have a good path for him, but ultimately hes gonna look at the best deal available to him and if we can continue to work together itd be great news for us.