‘Canelo’ Alvarez undergoes knee procedure
Saul “Canelo” Alvarez announced Friday that he underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right knee. The Mexican boxer said on his social media account he will be sidelined three to four weeks.
Publimetro, a newspaper in Mexico, first reported Alvarez’s surgery, but Golden Boy Promotions president Eric Gomez told ESPN Deportes it was only a cosmetic surgery and not urgent.
“I deny the mistaken information reported by Golden Boy Promotions president Eric Gomez,” Alvarez said in Spanish on his Instagram post. “Thank you for the concerns. Within three to four weeks I’ll return to new.”
Alvarez will have his disciplinary hearing Wednesday with the Nevada Athletic Commission to determine the length of his suspension for twice testing positive for the banned substance clenbuterol in February.
Alvarez withdrew last week from his May 5 rematch against Gennady Golovkin at T-mobile Arena.
Crawford ready for Horn
Terence Crawford was scheduled to make his long-awaited welterweight debut Saturday against Jeff Horn at the Mandalay Bay Events Center, but the fight was postponed after Crawford sustained a right hand injury last month.
It was the first time in Crawford’s career he had to delay a bout because of injury.
“My hand was messed up,” Crawford said. “I’m not going to fight with one hand, so it wasn’t hard to make that decision.”
Horn, the WBO welterweight champion who is 18-0-1 with 12 knockouts, questioned Crawford’s toughness for postponing the fight, which led to a war of words between the two camps. They won’t have to wait long to settle the dispute in the ring.
Top Rank rescheduled the world title bout for June 9 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Tickets start at $50 and are available on Axs.com and the MGM Resorts box office.
The bout will air on the ESPN+ streaming service that debuted Thursday. The Crawford-horn bout will be the first of 18 Top Rank fights over the next year to appear on the $4.99 per month app.
Crawford (32-0, 23 KOS) said he can use his right hand again during workouts but won’t begin sparring for another few weeks.
Pacquiao gets new trainer
The Manny Pacquiao-freddie Roach era has ended.
Pacquiao announced Friday that Buboy Fernandez and Raides Neri will be his trainers for the July bout against Lucas Matthysse in Malaysia.
Roach guided Pacquiao to numerous world titles during their 15-year run.
“Manny and I had a great run for 15 years — longer than most marriages and certainly a rarity for boxing,” Roach said in a statement. “I wouldn’t trade any of it. Inside the boxing ring and the political ring, I wish Manny nothing but the best.
“I would be lying if I didn’t say I wasn’t hurt that he didn’t contact me personally about his decision, but the great times we enjoyed together far outweigh that.”
Contact Gilbert Manzano at gmanzano@reviewjournal.com.
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