Jake Paul may actually get his fight against Canelo Alvarez as the Mexican champion looks for an easy fight before facing Terence Crawford in September.
Don’t believe everything you read, especially when it comes to the Paul brothers. But in the case of recent rumors involving Jake Paul fighting Saul “Canelo” Alvarez … well, you can now upgrade stories on that from ‘rumors’ to ‘reports.’
Multiple boxing journalists with solid reputations and sources in the Canelo camp are now reporting that a deal is in the works to see Alvarez (a four-division boxing champion) fight Paul, whose best win is over a 47-year-old Anderson Silva in the ring.
“The sides are in the early stages of discussing the fight for this spring — targeted for Las Vegas on May 3, the Cinco de Mayo weekend Mexico’s Alvarez traditionally fights on — multiple sources with knowledge of the talks told Fight Freaks Unite,” former ESPN reporter Dan Rafael wrote.
Logan fought Floyd and I will fight Canelo and show the world why I’m the greatest sports story ever. See you soon Saul. pic.twitter.com/C8RN4ZRq6x
— Jake Paul (@jakepaul) October 2, 2023
“They stressed the conversations are in the early stages and very preliminary with a variety of things that would be need to be hashed out, not the least of which is the contract weight.”
In the past, Canelo has suggested he’d be open to boxing Paul … after he was done with bigger fights. After Paul vs. Tyson, Jake is big enough that official talks are ongoing to make the fight happen.
Will it actually happen, though? That’s still a real question, largely dictated by weight. Paul fights at 200 pounds, 32 pounds heavier than Alvarez fights at (and 53 pounds above 147, where Alvarez spent the majority of his early boxing career). And Paul weighed in at 227 pounds for his fight against Mike Tyson, so the weight differential will be massive.
How does this fight make sense? Well, Team Canelo is looking for a viable opponent for Cinco de Mayo that doesn’t mess up a potential Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford mega-fight in September. Alvarez has shown he is more than willing to accept a filler fight against less-than-spectacular opposition these days — why not let it be someone who also generates a lot of attention?
For Paul, fighting Alvarez might help him shed his reputation as a sandbagger who preys on the small, the elderly, and MMA fighters. Even if he gets his ass handed to him, he just has to show enough grit to make it through the early rounds and it will be a moral victory for him.
He also has that HBO Max reality show coming up in March and running until two weeks past Cinco de Mayo, so this is the perfect spectacle to generate eyes for that and help launch his family into Kardashian levels of influencer stardom.
We’ll keep you updated on the real news surrounding this ridiculous fight as it comes out.