CANELO ALVAREZ AND AUSTIN TROUT MEDIA CONFERENCE CALL TRANSCRIPT Kelly Swanson Thank you everybody for joining us today. You are on this call to talk to both the WBC Super Welterweight World Champion, Canelo Alvarez, and the WBA Super Welterweight World Champion, Austin Trout. We will start with Canelo Alvarez first and then Mr. Trout will join for the completion of the call. We will also be sending out a Fight Week schedule and you will be receiving more information about the show, which takes place Saturday, April 20th. But to give you more details about what’s going on and what we’re talking about today I’d like to turn the call over to Oscar De La Hoya, President of Golden Boy Promotions. Oscar? Oscar De La Hoya Thank you very much, Kelly. Yes, we are a little over a week away and things are moving extremely well. Ticket sales have been unbelievably selling like hotcakes. We are well over 35,000 tickets. We expect an incredible walk up, not only the day of the fight but all that week. As you know, when Julio Cesar Chavez fought Pernell Whitaker the walk up on that day alone was unbelievable. So we’re expecting a lot of people from across the border to come over and support their very own Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. This bout is a unification fight. It’s a 12-round fight for the WBC and WBA and also the vacant Ring Magazine Super Welterweight World Championship. We’re happy to announce the culminating event will be the up and coming fighter from Texas, Omar Figueroa Jr. vs. Abner Cotto, which will be a ten- rounder for the vacant WBC Silver Lightweight Title. As you know, this event is taking place at the Alamodome promoted by Golden Boy Promotions and Canelo Promotions. And I also want to thank Leija & Battah Promotions, who have been doing an incredible, incredible job. I’m also happy to announce that Miguel Cotto also is helping us promote this event with Omar Figueroa and Abner Cotto. This event is being sponsored by Corona and AT&T. Thank you very much. And as always, thank you very much to Showtime Championship Boxing. This event will be beginning at 10:00 p.m. Eastern/7:00 p.m. Pacific and the preliminary bouts will air on Showtime Extreme at 8:00 p.m. Eastern. Tickets are still available. There are tickets priced at $25 and $10 and we’re also, because of the high demand, going to\ add some bleacher packs to the existing set up enabling us to open up seats which are priced at $150 and $100. So April 20th fights will begin at 4:30 p.m. live there at the Alamodome. The doors will open at 3:30 p.m. And so let me introduce to you, he hails out of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. He is the WBC Super Welterweight World Champion. He has been a pro since 2005 and he started professionally at the age of 15. Right now at the age of 22 he’s obviously Mexico’s champion and current boxing super star. Let me introduce to you the champion at 154 pounds, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. Saul? Canelo I’m very happy. The time is near. I like the response that all the fans and the media have given me. I’m very, very motivated and willing/ready to give my best once I step into that ring come Saturday the 20th. Q Very good. Hey, I just wanted to ask you, do you think that a victory in this fight against Trout makes it a no-brainer that your next fight should be against Floyd Mayweather Jr.? And also on that, what does it mean to you to be considered, like Oscar said, Mexico’s champion and boxing super star in the country now? Do you think that you really have elevated to that spot? Thank you very much. Canelo To answer your question, right now my focus is 100% only on Austin Trout and that’s all I’m thinking of. After the fight, we’ll sit down, discuss what’s next, but right now I’m focused only on Austin Trout and, God willing, winning this fight. Your second question, it’s an honor. I’m very, very honored to hear someone like Oscar mention me in those words. I love it. It does thrill me but I’d rather the people say it and me continue to do my job inside the ring. Q Canelo, going into this fight when the deal was being done I guess there were people that were in your camp that weren’t really high on the fight but that you continued to press for it because it was that you personally wanted to sort of prove a lot of the critics wrong and because you hadn’t really fought any top fighters to take on one of the elite fighters in the division. Can you talk about your mindset, as far as demanding that fight and maybe going against what some of your advisors and people close to you thought about the match up? Canelo The team, after the fight with Cotto we had decided that’s the fight we wanted. And yes, we sat down and talked to our promoter, Golden Boy, made the decision that was who we wanted. They got to work and that’s where we’re at now and we’re all happy that we’re all in agreement. Q But am I wrong that there were people, at least initially that were not-I mean they were going to do what Canelo ultimately wanted them to do, but that they weren’t really pressing the issue? They thought maybe there could be a different fight or a better fight but that you insisted on this fight? Canelo Oh yeah, it was brought up that there are other fights and let’s take other avenues but I wanted this fight and that’s why we’re here on this call today and with the fight coming up on the 20th. Q I mean obviously you’ve been a champion now for a while. You fought some good fighters and that sort of thing and been active, but do you view this as your best opponent and also sort of like I guess maybe your moment of truth to sort of prove to anybody that might doubt your abilities that you are for real because you’re taking on one of the best fighters out there coming off the win against Cotto? Canelo There’s always going to be critics but criticism is also constructive and in this particular case it’s always your next fight that they’re going to criticize or talk about and that’s your toughest fight. This particular fight, yes, the one in turn, it is the toughest and we’ll silence the critics after. Q Oscar, let me ask you a quick question. Listen, you were a guy, when you were boxing, pretty much took on everybody that was there, especially as a welterweight and above, every top name, all the guys that people maybe rated ahead of you. I’m curious from your perspective. What do you think it says about the competitive nature and just the attitude of Canelo to just basically say to everybody around him, “Listen, I don’t want to hear about any other names. I want the guy I think’s the next best guy in the weight class. I want to fight Austin Trout.” What does it say about Canelo as a fighter that he would just demand this caliber of a fight? Oscar De La Hoya It speaks volumes of such a young man. At the age of 22 already wanting to fight the very best. Austin Trout is a very dangerous opponent. Just like every other opponent, yes it’s dangerous, but Austin Trout is an undefeated fighter, WBA champion. You’re right. People were worried, were concerned but one of those people wasn’t me. I know Canelo’s abilities. I know his style. I know that he loves fighting southpaws. But it speaks volumes. At the age of 22 years old, if you compare Saul’s career to anybody else’s, anybody else who’s elite, they would never take this chance or this type of fight ever, including myself, including a Floyd Mayweather, including anybody. This is a test that he wanted and we’re obviously hoping for the best. Q What did you see in Austin Trout’s style and what do you think his strengths and weakness are? Canelo We had Cotto in mind. We wanted to fight Miguel Angel Cotto but obviously when he beat him we saw a fight that we wanted to do. Austin Trout’s undefeated. He’s a world champion, very difficult style, strong southpaw, but this also gave me the motivation to go on and fight one of the best and we consider him as one of the best out there. Q My question to Canelo and Oscar, you did fight a lot of guys. You fought the best guys and you lost some tough fights, Mosley, Trinidad, and I understand there’s a rematch clause for this fight. Can you discuss the notion of a rematch clause and from Canelo’s standpoint, from your guy’s standpoint, what that means? Oscar De La Hoya Well obviously, yes, if you want to be the best you have to fight the best and I had the privilege of fighting the very best, which obviously a lot of people appreciated.