Canelo Alvarez says his recent criticism of rising boxing star Ryan Garcia was not intended to be callous.
23-year-old Garcia raised eyebrows earlier this year when he dropped out of his July fight against Javier Fortuna to take care of his mental health.
Garcia was later stripped of his WBC interim lightweight title, just five months after winning the belt against Luke Campbell.
He was scheduled to fight Joseph Diaz on November 27 but pulled out of the fight last month with a hand injury.
This prompted Alvarez - who is also coached by Garcia's trainer Eddie Reynoso - to state that Garcia is "wasting his talent".
“Look, Ryan has a lot of talent. But to me, in my eyes, he’s wasting a lot of time and wasting his talent," he told Complex last week.
"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. 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. That’s where I was at the beginning of my career. So definitely, he needs to be a little more dedicated.”
Alvarez will fight for the fourth time in less than 11 months when he meets undefeated Caleb Plant to crown the first-ever undisputed 168lb champion this Saturday night.
The pound-for-pound No.1 is arguably the most active current champion in boxing, meanwhile his protege Garcia has boxed just once since February 2020.
And speaking to reporters in Las Vegas ahead of his world title fight, Alvarez said his comments about Garcia were not meant to be harmful.
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“I haven’t talked to him, no, because he’s just recovering from his surgery. But what I said about him, it wasn’t meant in a bad way," he said.
"It was meant to be constructive criticism. I want him to take it that way and get the motivation to get on the right track once again.”
Garcia underwent surgery in Los Angeles two weeks ago for his hand injury, describing the procedure as a "massive success".
Whilst it's unclear when Garcia will return to the ring, he hinted on Instagram that he could fight again before the end of 2021.
He wrote: "Look out for the announcement of my next fight!!! It’s happening this year, time to get to 22-0."
