By Ricardo Lezama 
After much speculation, Canelo’s negotiations with American promotional companies were undercut by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s global promotional arm for sports ‘Riyadh Season’. The 4 fight contract involves Terence Crawford and several other opponents for Canelo. The deal was confirmed on the boxers’ social media accounts.
Most significantly, Canelo will fight in Saudi Arabia without the usual fanfare that he has grown accustomed to in the United States and in Mexico. The feeling will definitely be different in a conservative part of the world where alcohol and other usual ambient enhancers will not be available.
‼️ Turki Alalshikh has revealed a four-fight deal between Canelo Alvarez and Riyadh Season is done. Alalshikh has also shared that the first fight will be held in Riyadh in May.
— Ring Magazine (@ringmagazine) February 7, 2025
🥊 The Ring has learned of the following plan:
🇸🇦 Fight in Riyadh in May
🇺🇸 Big fight in Las Vegas… pic.twitter.com/9OUxdqxdLg
For his part, Canelo is likely to have the most lucrative years ahead of him with much of the boxing world awaiting his moves around the business world. The Ring Magazine has also aired out exclusive content regarding the fights, with Canelo appearing to answer much of Jake Paul’s rants with simple assertions about his own career: Canelo fights real boxers.
‼️EXCLUSIVE TO THE RING: Canelo Álvarez sends a message to his fans and to Jake Paul. pic.twitter.com/YgYb3F1W5q
— Ring Magazine (@ringmagazine) February 8, 2025
The Victims
As implied, Jake Paul and Canelo Alvarez’s much-hyped fight has been scrapped as a result of the new agreement. Initially, that fight was rife with numerous tweets suggesting that Paul and Alvarez had been close to finalizing an agreement, which would have been announced on February 11th.
However, the script changed when Alvarez elected to ink a four-fight deal with Turki Alalshikh’s Riyadh Season. Jake Paul, representing Netflix, his own promotional company and to some extent, Amazon Prime, has fumed on social media and called the Mexican star a ‘slave’, but the boxer has few if any commitments outside of his close circle of collaborators: Eddy Reynoso and Canelo Promotions, as well as his own family based business ventures.
Nevertheless, some in the boxing world did have some fun with the development. Amid this development, one tweet is from Jose Benavidez Sr., who expressed his willingness to coach Paul against Alvarez.
Online, Jake Paul alleged that Alvarez had signed a contract to fight him but decided to choose a different path. Alvarez brushed off Paul’s claims, asserting that he only fights “real boxers”. This sent much of the sports world into a frenzy, pitting fans of both fighters against each other, bolstering the schism between supporters of traditional boxing and followers of influencer boxing. In the latest series of tweets, it appears that several boxing fans favour Alvarez’s decision, appreciating that a traditional boxing fight will indeed take place.
Spectacle
For the hardcore crowd, there is a true sense of relief. The idea that boxing’s most revered star would entertain an exhibition or even a cruiserweight fight with someone as unaccomplished, but famous and monied, as Jake Paul, would reduce boxing rankings to mere popularity scores. The sport is
However, for those hoping to have a free and somewhat of a spectacle, there is a sense of disappointment still lingers among certain followers, who were geared up to witness a new age spectacle. The potential reach of the event would dwarf the Tyson vs Paul spectacle of late last year (2024).
Social media’s back and forth led to a heated exchange between Alvarez and Paul, with the latter calling Alvarez a “money-hungry squirrel”, but in the end, Paul is an insignificantly ranked boxer whose standing would benefit just from sharing the ring and withstanding the punishment somewhat gracefully.