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Los Angeles - Boxing trainer Abel Sanchez hit back at Saul "Canelo" Alvarez on Wednesday after being branded a "dumbass" by the Mexican fighter ahead of next month's rematch with middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin.
In a scathing blog post, Alvarez took aim at Sanchez after the veteran coach accused him of "running" during last year's drawn first meeting with Golovkin in Las Vegas.
Although Alvarez claimed Sanchez's remarks had not bothered him, they appeared to have touched a nerve as the two camps prepare for their September 15 rematch at the T-Mobile Arena.
"Comments from Sanchez don't really bother me because he actually thinks he's a great trainer, but he doesn't know what boxing is," Alvarez wrote.
"I hope he goes back to his house and realises what I've been saying about him. That he's a dumbass."
Animosity has been simmering between the Alvarez and Golovkin camps since their first scheduled rematch on May 5 was called off after Alvarez tested positive for performance enhancing drugs.
Sanchez however sounded relaxed when asked for his response to Alvarez's criticism in a conference call with reporters on Wednesday, insisting that he had not insulted the Mexican.
"I haven't insulted them in any way shape or form," Sanchez said.
"Everything I've said has been a fact. The insults are not coming from our side, the insults have come from them. They're the ones that are lowering themselves to that level."
Sanchez agreed with a suggestion that his comments had rattled Alvarez.
"Have I gotten into his head for him to respond to me like that? There's no reason for it, but that's the character that I've been talking about," Sanchez said.
"I feel that he's responding. He's reading these things and it's affecting him. But the reason I'm saying these things is that they are facts. Tell me where I'm lying. Did he not test positive? Did he not cancel our fight? Did he not cause an uproar with fans and tickets and reservation as a consequence of what he did? So I'm not insulting him.
"They're the ones that are lowering themselves to that level."
The unbeaten Golovkin, with 38 wins from 39 fights including 34 knockouts, will be putting his WBA, WBC and IBO middlweight titles on the line when he faces Alvarez next month.
The fight comes one year after his first meeting with Alvarez ended in a controversial draw, with most pundits believing Golovkin had deserved to win.
Sanchez said Golovkin would again pursue an aggressive approach in the rematch, and once again challenged Alvarez to go toe-to-toe with his fighter.
"It can be a war if both go out to do what they have always done," Sanchez said.
"The last time Canelo did not come out to win but to survive."
"The great fighters always get the best of the best fighters, Golovkin will do the best, we hope that Canelo does the best."
