Canelo Alvarez underwent arthroscopic surgery to remove a bothersome cyst from his right knee Friday in Mexico.
"I share that today I had to undergo an arthroscopic surgery to repair the internal femoral cartilage and eliminate a pathological fold of my right knee," Alvarez wrote on social media in comments translated from Spanish. "I dismiss the erroneous information published by Golden Boy president Eric Gomez. Thanks for worrying!! And in three to four weeks I'll be like new."
There was some confusion earlier in the day when Gomez said Alvarez had undergone "cosmetic" surgery. Gomez later told ESPN that the confusion was in the translation of the description of Alvarez's surgery from Spanish to English.
"He had a cyst taken out of his knee," Gomez clarified to ESPN on Friday night. "It's not an injury. Since the fight [with Gennady Golovkin] was canceled, now was the time for him to take care of it. It was something that has been bothering him. And so now, since he isn't fighting, it was time to take care of it. But he would have been ready to fight on May 5 if there was a fight. There is no structural problem with his knee."
Alvarez was due to face unified middleweight world champion Golovkin (37-0-1, 33 KOs) on May 5 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas in a rematch of their heavily disputed draw that most people thought GGG won in September at the same venue.
However, in February, Alvarez twice tested positive for the banned performance-enhancing drug clenbuterol in random urine tests conducted by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association in his hometown of Guadalajara, Mexico. Alvarez blamed contaminated beef in Mexico, but regardless of the reason, the substance was in his system, he was suspended by the Nevada commission and faces further punishment at an April 18 commission hearing.
Because he is facing an extension of the suspension he is already under, Alvarez withdrew from the fight on April 3, leaving Golovkin to scramble to find a replacement opponent for a fight that, if it happens, likely will move to the StubHub Center in Carson, California, and air on HBO instead of HBO PPV, which would have carried the rematch with Alvarez.
Gomez said Alvarez (49-1-2, 34 KOs), 27, a former junior middleweight and middleweight world champion, likely will not attend the hearing before the Nevada commission in person but rather participate via telephone.