Canelo Alvarez and Ryan Garcia, two of the biggest names in the world of boxing, were once teammates, but their relationship has been anything but smooth. The two have had a rocky past, with an on-again, off-again beef that has left fans wondering what really happened between them.
In 2018, Ryan Garcia joined renowned coach Eddy Reynoso at Canelo's adopted US training base in San Diego.
Garcia met Canelo Alvarez at Reynoso's San Diego facility and the latter became his mentor. There, Garcia achieved landmark victories and titles.
Ryan Garcia and Eddy Reynoso had a falling out when Garcia left Alvarez's camp, citing Reynoso's inadequate attention.
The relationship between Ryan Garcia and Canelo Alvarez turned sour in the year 2022. Following Garcia's victory over Luke Campbell on January 2, 2021, he took a break from boxing due to a broken wrist. However, a comment from Alvarez questioning his professionalism sparked a feud between the former teammates.
In an edited version of a Zoom interview with Complex Sports published on October 28, 2021, Canelo Alvarez expressed concern over Ryan Garcia's dedication to boxing. Alvarez stated “Ryan has a lot of talent, but to me, in my eyes, he’s wasting a lot of time and wasting his talent. I look at him and don’t see him 100 percent dedicated and, to us, that’s a bad signal. We always remind him as a team to come to the gym, to train, and to learn because you need to be in the gym...So definitely he needs to be a little more dedicated. ”
Ryan Garcia expressed shock and confusion over Canelo Alvarez's comments in a Zoom interview with Complex Sports.“I was shocked and kind of confused by it. I didn’t quite understand why he would say something like this, especially to the media, because he could have definitely taken me somewhere else and told me personally. I kind of took it as disloyal.”
He continued.. He said, “I would never do that to him, I would never speak about him in the gym about what I think he should be doing…I hope the best for him, but when he said that I felt betrayed.”
Ryan Garcia expressed his hope to rebuild his friendship with Canelo Alvarez in a DAZN interview. Ryan Garcia said, “I mean, I would hope so, right, I would hope that we could, uh, come back and just be good friends. Because uh, you know that was a special time in my life, obviously.”
He added“And uh, you know I appreciate those moments but obviously, there’s a new chapter now, uh, but I don’t have no hard feelings towards him. I wish him the best and I think he’s obviously a great, great person and a great fighter,”.