Jake Paul is out, Terence Crawford is back in.
It was a whirlwind couple of hours for boxing fans on Thursday night. First, ESPN’s Mike Coppinger reported that muti-time world champion Canelo Alvarez was in the process of finalizing a deal to fight ‘The Problem Child’ at an event on May 3 in Las Vegas.
Just a few short hours later, Canelo vs. Paul was no more.
In a follow-up report from Coppinger, it was revealed that Canelo had suddenly changed course and inked a four-fight deal with Turki Alalshikh, the chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, effectively killing his glorified sparring session with Paul that was slated to land on Netflix.
Let’s go brother 👊🏻 https://t.co/Wy1PYfSWcY
— Canelo Alvarez (@Canelo) February 7, 2025
Now, Canelo is expected to compete in Riyadh for the first time in his career on May 3. According to sources, there are two opponents in the mix for Canelo during Cinco De Mayo weekend — Jermall Charlo and Bruno Surace. Regardless of who gets the nod, the fight will be seen as nothing more than a tune-up fight for Canelo’s highly-anticipated clash with Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford.
Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford Eyed for Mexican Independence Day Weekend in September
Canelo vs. Crawford is expected to go down on September 13 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. Canelo will reportedly put his 168-pound world title on the line against Crawford who will be moving up two weight classes from his last fight which was contested at 154 pounds.
“I’m waiting on Canelo in September and going to shock the world in Riyadh Season” Crawford posted on X in response to Alalshikh’s announcement of Alvarez’s deal.
I’m waiting on Canelo in September and going to shock the world in Riyadh Season!
— Terence Crawford (@terencecrawford) February 7, 2025
Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) earned a unanimous decision victory over Israil Madrimov in August. Before that, he delivered a career-best performance against Errol Spence Jr. in July 2023, scoring a ninth-round TKO inside T-Mobile Arena.
Alvarez, 34, currently holds the WBA, WBC, and IBF super middleweight titles. As a four-division world champion, he defeated Jaime Munguia and Edgar Berlanga in 2024. Overall, he is 62-2 with 39 of his wins coming by way of KO/TKO.
