Is Canelo Álvarez Fighting Jake Paul?
Mexican boxer Canelo Alvarez arrives for his light-heavyweight world title boxing match against Russian boxer Dmitry Bivol at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, May 7, 2022. (Photo by Patrick T. FALLON / AFP) (Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)
The saga about Canelo Álvarez’s next fight has taken an unexpected last-minute twist. Late Thursday, February 6, a report from ESPN suggested Álvarez and Jake Paul were finalizing a deal. The bout between the two even had a date: May 3, at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. It was expected to stream on Netflix.
However, just a day later, things have changed. Alalshikh, chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority announced that Canelo Álvarez had signed a four-fight deal with Riyadh Season.
The deal Álvarez signed will see him box in Saudi Arabia in May of this year. In September, he will face welterweight champion Terence Crawford at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. Alalshikh referred to that fight as “the biggest fight in the history of boxing.”
Canelo Álvarez is the current WBC and WBO super middleweight champion at 168 pounds. The Álvarez-Paul fight was expected to be contested at the cruiserweight limit of 200 pounds. Crawford, meanwhile, has never weighed in at more than 153 pounds, which came in his last fight—a bout that saw him beat Israil Madrimov and become a four-weight world champion.
In Álvarez’s latest fight, meanwhile, he easily beat out Edgar Berlanga last September and retained his titles.
Paul, the Youtuber turned boxer famously fought Mike Tyson in a boxing match streamed on Netflix last November, a bout that was reportedly watched by over 100 million people globally. He went onto Instagram and responded with a Photoshopped image of him fighting Álvarez. In the caption he insulted Álvarez and said he was “an owned slave with no regard for the pride of the Mexican people who support him on US soil.”
Canelo Álvarez, however, seems to have decided that the possibility of fighting Crawford is better than the exposure Netflix would bring. So Jake Paul is a no, at least for now. Who knows what the future will bring?
