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Canelo Alvarez has sensationally ditched a mega-money fight with Jake Paul, instead leveraging the highly anticipated bout for a mammoth new contract.
Paul was set to fight the Mexican great on Cinco de Mayo weekend in May on Netflix, which was expected to rake in an astronomical amount of money for both fighters and the broadcaster.
The bout was touted to be used as somewhat of a tune-up ahead of Canelo’s monster clash with Terrence Crawford in September.
However, he has dropped the Paul fight like a hot pie and instead penned a four-fight deal with Riyadh Season.
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Turki Alalshikh, the head of Riyadh Season and the General Entertainment Authority of Saudi Arabia and a firm backer of Crawford, announced the deal with Canelo on social media.
“Don’t mess with the lion,” Alalshikh said.
Canelo replied: “Let’s go brother.”
The first fight under Canelo’s new deal will be in Saudi Arabia in May, before the fight with Terence Crawford — the long-reigning welterweight champion later in 2025.
“I’m waiting on Canelo in September,” Crawford wrote on X, in reply to Alalshikh’s announcement.
Canelo has been one of boxing’s biggest stars for several years and it is understood the super middleweight champion used the speculation of a fight against Paul to leverage a major deal from Saudi.
He would have been a huge favourite to beat Paul, a YouTube star turned boxer, who has become a major draw in his own right fighting former UFC fighters and most recently a 58-year-old Mike Tyson.
And on the back of the news Canelo had backed out of the fight against him, Paul’s MVP released a statement condemning the Mexican’s poor negotiating faith.
“MVP was deep in negotiations for a blockbuster fight between Jake Paul and Canelo Alvarez on Cinco de Mayo weekend in Las Vegas, a massive event for the Mexican, Puerto Rican and American fans, and it’s disappointing to see how the situation unfolded,” the statement read.
“MVP operates with integrity, transparency, and respect for the sport, its athletes, and the fans. Unfortunately, not everyone in the boxing world shares those values.
“This situation is a reminder not to believe everything you read, especially when the current media environment is often controlled by those with hidden agendas, including promoters who have reporters on their payroll.
“We remain in active discussions with multiple high-profile opponents and are committed to delivering the biggest fights, the most exciting events, and to working with partners who share our values and our commitment to boxing and its fighters.
“Jake Paul isn’t going anywhere, and neither is MVP. We’ll continue to disrupt boxing, on our terms.”
While Paul went far further and accused Alvarez of being a “slave”. Canelo hasn’t responded to that comment as yet.
However, former UFC double champ Conor McGregor congratulated Canelo for his business smarts and Alalshikh for getting the deal with the Mexican icon over the line.
“Turki [Alalshikh] does not mess around,” McGregor commented. “Planner/Executioner extraordinaire! Bravo (Turki and Canelo).”
Canelo last fought in September, outpointing Edgar Berlanga to improve his record to an incredible 62-2-2, with 39 knockouts.