Canelo Alvarez and Eddie Hearn, the boss of Matchroom Boxing, have built up a close business relationship in recent years. But on September 14, they will be on opposite sides of the boxing ring.
Since parting ways with Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions in 2020, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez has mainly acted as an independent promoter and is not tied to any fixed network or promoter. Eddie Hearn immediately seized this opportunity and offered Alvarez a series of opponents. He promoted six of Alvarez’s first seven fights after his split with Golden Boy, and the duo developed a friendly relationship. However, super-middleweight champion Alvarez has since made the move to fight under the PBC(Premier Boxing Champions) banner. He will do so for the third consecutive time on September 14, this time against Hearn-promoted Edgar Berlanga.
“My relationship with Canelo is very honest,” Hearn told BoxingScene. “I consider him a friend. He’s one of the greatest fighters of our generation. He’s a pound-for-pound champion, a legend. I understand him really well when we work together on business. We get along well – that’s why we can always work together and shake hands because we do good business together. I’m not offended if another, better opportunity comes up for him. (…) When we signed Berlanga, I promised him that we would get the fight against Canelo. But I assumed we would promote Canelo and pick Berlanga. We did it the hard way and made a deal with PBC for the fight. Yeah, it’s an interesting dynamic. I’ll be rooting for Edgar Berlanga on Sept. 14, while remaining respectful to Canelo Alvarez, the true great.”
Text by Robin Josten