Mike Tyson backed to ‘defend’ Messi after Canelo Alvarez threatens

FIFA World cup 2022: Lionel Messi vs Canelo Alvarez: Mike Tyson appears to be an Argentine football fan, or he just wanted to mess with the Brazilian audience back in 2005 when the court wanted the heavyweight boxer to appear for hitting and breaking a journalist’s camera. To everyone’s surprise, Tyson donned an Argentina football jersey on his way to the court and shocked everyone in Brazil. Seventeen years later, Mike Tyson has been backed to defend Lionel Messi, after Canelo Alvarez threatened the football legend. 

Argentina beat Mexico in the group stage of the ongoing FIFA World cup by 2-0, with Lionel Messi scoring the opening goal. Post-match, Messi was spotted cleaning the dressing room with a Mexican flag or jersey, which vexed boxing star, Canelo Alvarez. The  undisputed super middleweight champion took to Twitter and wrote, “Saw Messi cleaning floor with our jersey and flag? He should ask god that I don’t find him.”

The official social media handle of ESPN FC posted the news and grabbed worldwide attention. While most people backed Canelo Alvarez in the mix, a few compared Canelo’s global popularity to Lionel Messi’s. Amidst all of them, a fan picked up Mike Tyson in an Argentina jersey to defend Lionel Messi against Alvarez.

Mike Tyson and Canelo Alvarez have been on good terms

For those who don’t know, Canelo Alvarez is a huge fan of Mike Tyson and considers ‘Iron’ as one of his boxing idols. The two even interacted at Mike Tyson’s HotBoxin podcast and didn’t fail to reflect their mutual respect. That said, Mike Tyson is yet to react to the issue and Lionel Messi hasn’t offered his reaction to Canelo Alvarez, either.

As for Alvarez, he is a proud Mexican and never shies from boasting his national heritage. Canelo Alvarez also competes every year during Cinco De Mayo to thrill his home fans. He lost this year in a failed attempt at the WBA light heavyweight belt against Dmitry Bivol but rebounded with a trilogy win over Gennadiy Golovkin. The P4P star hasn’t announced his next fight yet but seems aligned to face Dmitry Bivol in a high-voltage rematch.

UFC fighter Santiago Ponzinibbio has jumped to the defence of Lionel Messi amid his row with boxing superstar Canelo Alvarez. Argentine UFC fighter Ponzinibbio is the latest person to back up the seven-time Ballon d'Or winner, saying if 'you mess with Messi, you mess with entire Argentina'. Manchester City legend Sergio Aguero defended his former international colleague and got involved in a nasty exchange with the undisputed super-middleweight world champion.