How Turki Alalshikh beat Jake Paul to land Canelo, boxing’s biggest star

Over the last few days, you might have found yourself asking any, or all, of the following questions: What on earth is going on with Canelo vs Crawford? What does Jake Paul have to do with it? Has Turki Alalshikh finally met a boxer he could not convince?

And depending on the day, hour, or even minute, the answers to those questions might have differed. This has been a Rubik’s Cube of a saga, with multiple hands seemingly picking up and putting down the puzzle, twisting and turning it until, in the end, Alalshikh placed it on the table, with every little square in its place.

What he really put on the table was a contract – or perhaps a series of connecting deals – for Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. Friday brought an apparent end to this saga, or at least the following news: over the next two years, the Mexican icon will box four times as part of Riyadh Season. If all goes to plan, he will enter the ring in May, then in September, before fighting in February and October 2026. The only named opponent is Terence Crawford, who is due to box Canelo at Las Vegas’s Allegiant Stadium in September.

Canelo other opponents are almost irrelevant; the Crawford match-up will be the biggest – not just of this run, but of either man’s career, and nearly of this generation. What holds it back, in truth, is that it is a contrived contest.

The unbeaten Crawford is a four-weight world champion, has been undisputed in two divisions, and pushed himself up to a career-heaviest 154lb last summer. He would have to move up another two weight classes to challenge Canelo for the unified super-middleweight titles, which seems the plan.

Yes, this would be a seismic meeting of pound-for-pound greats (Canelo was previously undisputed at super-middle, and has held titles in four divisions like Crawford), but it is not a necessary one. Perhaps this is the first example of Alalshikh, the Saudi adviser who effectively runs big-time boxing nowadays, prioritising a match-up that he wants, rather than bouts that divisions need and fans desire.

That is a bird’s-eye view of the situation, though. The headline atop this article still needs unpacking. So, let’s descend into the weeds.

Canelo vs Crawford has been on Alalshikh’s wishlist for some time. Canelo vs Paul has been on… well, Jake Paul’s wishlist for some time (and, admittedly, the lists of fans who want to see the YouTuber humbled). In recent weeks, Canelo vs Crawford began to look like a serious proposition for September, but at the start of this week, rumours grew that Canelo could box Paul in May.

It is possible Canelo felt he could take both paydays, crushing Paul in a fight that would not endanger his contest with Crawford. It is also possible that Alalshikh, who has expressed a distaste for influencer boxing, did not want Canelo to have his cake and eat it: on Thursday, The Ring – a magazine owned by Alalshikh – reported that Canelo vs Crawford was off.

It felt like a message from Alalshikh to Canelo, which would chime with past tensions between the pair – tensions that have made the Mexican one of the last big stars to enter the Saudi boxing sphere. An update from ESPN’s Mike Coppinger suggested as much: “@Turki_alalshikh is suspending efforts to finalize contracts for Canelo Alvarez-Terence Crawford in September in the wake of Alvarez’s novelty bout with Jake Paul,” he tweeted, citing sources. “Alalshikh [had] offered Canelo a lucrative three-fight deal that would start with the Crawford bout.”

However, Canelo and Alalshikh were able to find a compromise, one that removed Paul from the equation. “In a stunning, 11th-hour development with the Jake Paul fight at the one-yard line, Canelo Alvarez has instead closed a four-fight deal with Turki Alalshikh and Riyadh Season to salvage the Terence Crawford mega fight in September,” Coppinger tweeted. Per Coppinger, Alalshikh told him: “Canelo fights only real fighters.”

Around this time, Paul lashed out at Coppinger. Earlier on Thursday, the ESPN journalist had questioned Paul’s claim that he would be the “A-side” in his next fight (against Canelo, in other words), causing a back-and-forth between the writer and the 28-year-old.

All the while, Alalshikh celebrated his signing of Canelo, while criticising pundits and reports that had talked up the prospect of the Paul fight. Amid his callouts, he tweeted: “Don’t mess with the lion… 4 fights for Canelo with Riyadh Season … The Deal is done … A Lion doesn’t lose sleep over [the] opinion of a sheep… Fear the lion, not the jungle.” Crawford added: “I’m waiting on Canelo in September and going to shock the world in Riyadh Season!”

And so Friday marked the end of a busy working week for Alalshikh and Canelo, it seems, and a less fruitful one for Paul. Yet with seven months separating this saga and the planned Canelo vs Crawford fight, would it be any shock if there were more twists? That is the easiest question of all to answer.