Canelo Alvarez Calls Out Ryan Garcia, Says Boxer is 'Wasting His Talent'

Pound-for-pound No. 1 boxer Canelo Alvarez knows his opinion carries a lot of weight, so he didn't hold back in his criticism of rising boxing star Ryan Garcia.

"Look, Ryan has a lot of talent. But to me in my eyes, he’s wasting a lot of time and wasting his talent," Alvarez recently told Complex. "I look at him and don’t see him 100 percent dedicated and, to us, that’s a bad signal."

Garcia pulled out of his scheduled fight against Joseph Diaz on Nov. 27 due to wrist surgery.

Garcia hasn't fought since Jan. 2 when he defeated Luke Campbell by seventh-round TKO to become the interim WBC lightweight champion. He was scheduled to defend his title against Javier Fortuna in April but withdrew to "manage his health and well being" and was subsequently stripped of his belt.

As Garcia's teammate, Alvarez said he's tried to convince him to be more dedicated to the sport. The unified super middleweight champion is not satisfied with Garcia fighting so infrequently.

"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," Alvarez said. "You’re learning day-by-day, at the very minimum fighting five times a year.

"When I was beginning my career, I did 15 fights in one year," he continued. "That’s where I was at the beginning of my career. So definitely he needs to be a little more dedicated."

Besides Garcia's time away from the ring, Alvarez might also have been referring to Garcia's fame as a social media sensation with 8.8 million followers on Instagram.

At 21-0, Garcia is one of the brightest young stars in the entire sport of boxing. But he's only fought once in each of the past two years and twice in 2019. He's now eyeing a return in 2022 after his recovery from wrist surgery.