Canelo Alvarez told the media today at the Las Vegas press conference that Turki Alalshikh had told Terence Crawford to do something to rile him up at their previous press conference to liven things up. Alvarez explains that when Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) walked up on him, he retaliated with the push.

Crawford immediately denied that Turki had told him to do it, but Canelo wasn’t having anything of it. He didn’t believe Crawford and felt certain that he was acting under orders from Turki, and he got what was coming to him.

Canelo Accuses Crawford, Turki

This little interaction got the press conference off to a hot start because Crawford lost his temper at that point. He talked about how he was going to beat Canelo and be placed on Mount Rushmore..

“He tried to walk me back. I always try to respect my opponent. I think that wasn’t something he wanted to do. I believe Turki Alalshikh told him, ‘You need to do something, and he did,” said Canelo Alvarez during today’s press conference in Las Vegas, explaining why he shoved Terence Crawford in the previous conference.

“Before, I respected his words when he said, ‘I’m not going to let somebody tell me what I need to do.’ And he did. You know me. I respect everybody, but if you f*** with me, it’s going to be different,” said Canelo.

Crawford Denies Turki Orders

“Turki didn’t ask me to do nothing,” said Crawford when asked if Turki told him to get aggressive with Canelo.

“You know, buddy,” said Canelo.

If Turki did tell Crawford to push Canelo’s buttons by walking up on him, he did it because the press conference had been dead as a door knob up to that point. Crawford, who is mostly nonverbal, didn’t have much to say in terms of interesting soundbites.

So, if Turki did tell him to put some theatrics into it, he did it because the press conference had come across like a eulogy with a bunch of weak comments from both fighters.