Canelo apologises to Lionel Messi as he admits he got carried away with passion for Mexico

One of the world's best boxers was angered when a clip of the Paris Saint-Germain man appearing to kick aside a Mexico shirt on the floor, emerged.

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The footage, taken from a Nicolas Otamendi social media post, showed Messi in the Argentina changing room after scoring in his side's 2-0 World Cup win over Mexico.

He then appeared to kick away a Mexico shirt on the ground, drawing plenty of ire from one of the country's best-known athletes, Canelo.

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"Did you guys see Messi cleaning the floor with our jersey and flag?" he wrote to his 2.3million followers.

"He better pray to God that I don't find him. Just like I respect Argentina, he has to respect Mexico! I'm not talking about the country as a whole, just about the bulls*** that Messi did."

A number of stars jumped to Messi's defence, including Sergio Aguero and Cesc Fabregas, as well as compatriot and UFC star Santiago Ponzinibbio who offered to fight the undisputed super-middleweight champion.

Canelo spent plenty of time responding to his followers to debate the incident that occurred on November 26, but after some thought, he's now offered an apology.

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"These past few days I was carried away by the passion and love I have for my country," he posted on his social media platforms.

"I made comments that were out of place so I want to apologise to Messi and the people of Argentina.

"Everyday we learn something new and this time it was me.

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"I wish both teams much success in their matches today and here we will continue to support Mexico until the end."