Canelo Alvarez is one of the most prominent boxers to come out of Mexico, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t immune from dealing with the harsh realities of his country.
The current unified super middleweight champion was a victim of kidnapping three years ago.
In a recent interview on In Depth with Graham Bensinger — Alvarez dropped major details of how he had to personally negotiate the release of his brother who was kidnapped in 2018:
“Over the phone, I negotiated all the — I negotiated everything for his release,” Canelo told Bensinger in Spanish, via TMZ Sports.
“For three days, I negotiated with those a**holes so they would let him go. Three days!”
The situation was made worse by the fact that the kidnapping occurred during the build-up to Alvarez’s 2018 bout against Rocky Fielding. The kidnappers likely knew Canelo would be much more willing to negotiate for his brother’s release at that point in time.
Canelo says his brother was returned safely and then he went on to score a 3rd round knockout of Fielding. He did not reveal the terms of the deal they made with his brother’s captures.
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Canelo would go on to accuse crooken cops in Mexico for playing a role in the kidnapping of his brother.
He added, “This is why I’m not here in Mexico much anymore, because it’s not safe.”
He would like nothing more than to move his family to the United States, but said it would be difficult “because they have their life here … they have their life here in Mexico. I can’t do it.”
