Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez lit up social media again, but this time it wasn’t because of a fight. A phrase of his started circulating strongly and generated all kinds of reactions: “The poor will always be poor because they want to.”
The comment appeared in an interview and didn’t take long to go viral. Some defended him, saying he was speaking from his own experience and that his message was about personal effort. Others criticized him immediately, pointing out that it reduces a complex reality to an overly simple idea.
And of course, that’s where the debate started. Because talking about discipline and hard work is not the same as saying that poverty depends only on willpower. For many, the phrase ignores factors like opportunities, context, or even the place where you happen to be born.
“If you don’t have the ability to think that way, and if you don’t have an education about money, you will always be poor. Right now, give 10 million dollars to a person who doesn’t have a penny and he will want to spend 15. There is no money that doesn’t run out. The poor will always be poor because they want to.”
Still, it’s not the first time Canelo has referred to these topics from that perspective. He himself has told his story several times and how he got ahead from the bottom, something that clearly shapes the way he sees things.
In the end, more than the phrase itself, what remained was the discussion it opened. Between those who see him as an example of overcoming adversity and those who believe comments like that overlook a much more complex reality.