Canelo Apologizes to Messi: ‘I Got Carried Away by the Passion and Love I Feel for My Country’
Mexican boxer Canelo Álvarez has issued a formal apology to Argentine football player Lionel Messi after reposting an Instagram post from the athlete that turned out to be fake. The boxer’s feud with Messi has, thus far, not prompted a response from the Argentine football star.
It started with Messi appearing to kick a Mexico jersey
Canelo aired out his grievances with Messi after a video of him kicking a Mexico jersey in the locker room surfaced online. The video made its way online shortly after Argentina defeated Mexico 2-0 during the World Cup. The boxer responded to the footage on Twitter, writing, “Did you guys see Messi cleaning the floor with our jersey and flag?”
He went on to tweet more about the video, writing, “He better pray to God that I don’t find him.”
He later clarified his statements, writing, “Just like I respect Argentina, he has to respect Mexico!” and “I’m not talking about the country as a whole, just about the bullshit that Messi did.”
However, an Argentina fan made things worse…
A fan of Argentina only made things worse. The fan responded to Canelo’s initial tweets with a fabricated image that looked like it came from Messi’s Instagram story.
In the fake image, Messi appears to be posting a shot of him using a Mexico jersey like a mop. Infuriated by the image, Canelo quote tweeted the screenshot with the caption “hdp.”
In English, the acronym translates to “son of a bitch.”
Canelo has now acknowledged it as a fabricated image. Soon after, he rushed to social media to walk back some of his prior statements.
Canelo apologizes
Posting on Instagram and Twitter, Canelo formally apologized to Messi and the Argentine team. Again, Messi has never acknowledged Canelo’s initial statements or the feud in general. In his official statement, Canelo wrote:
“These last few days I got carried away by the passion and love I feel for my country and made comments that were out of place for which I want to apologize to Messi and the people of Argentina. Every day we learn something new and this time it was my turn.”
He added, “I wish both teams much success in their matches today and here we will continue supporting Mexico until the end.”
Mexico and Argentina are both playing today, November 30. Mexico will be facing off against Saudi Arabia while Argentina plays Poland.
