“Don’t mess with the lion,” stated His Excellency Turki Alalshikh as he ended the chaos surrounding Canelo Alvarez and his next fight. Firstly, it was confirmed that the Mexican will face Terence Crawford in a dream fight in September. However, Ring Magazine announced the fight’s cancellation as rumors of Canelo facing Jake Paul in May started floating around.

On Friday, the Saudi Royal put all the chatter to rest, announcing that the unified super middleweight champion and the Riyadh Season had signed a 4-fight deal. Alalshikh then confirmed that the Guadalajara native will fight against Crawford in September under the deal. Thus, all was back to normal. However, fans are still curious about the remaining three fights and opponents for Canelo Alvarez. Many names have been presented. Yet none has been confirmed. Just a day later after announcing the deal, His Excellency dropped a hint on one of Canelo Alvarez’s potential opponents. Who is it?

Canelo Alvarez’s Quest to Erase a Career Blot

On Saturday, the GEA chairman sat down with Mark Coppinger on ESPN to talk about Canelo Alvarez’s new 4-fight deal. During the conversation, Coppinger asked about the aftermath of the undisputed light heavyweight championship fight between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol. HE Alalshikh agreed that Beterbiev winning would just mean a clash against the mandatory challenger, David Benavidez. However, Bivol winning would open up a lot of different avenues for the promoter.

The Saudi Royal revealed that Canelo Alvarez is still looking for a rematch against Dmitry Bivol. “Canelo want the rematch with Bivol in the future, he said to me this,” revealed His Excellency. Things get far more interesting as even “Bivol wants this,” and the ISSF chairman has no problem in making the fight since both are ready for it.

In 2022, Canelo Alvarez suffered his second career defeat as he tried to venture into 175 lbs for a second time against the Kyrgyzstan fighter. Since the devastating loss, the Mexican pound-4-pound star has been looking for a chance to redeem himself. Even last year, after a triumphant performance against Edgar Berlanga, Canelo revealed his desire to face the 23-1 boxer once again. At the time, Bivol was already involved in undisputed title talks with Artur Beterbiev. However, it looks like if things fall in place at the right time, we might be getting this fight soon.

The idea of a rematch between the duo will please a lot of boxing fans. However, these recent developments have clearly left one person disgruntled—Jake Paul.

Jake Paul’s furious rant

Just a few hours after the 4-fight-deal announcement, The Problem Child took to his Instagram and let his feelings known about the deal. He posted a series of AI-generated pictures showcasing him defeating Canelo Alvarez inside the ring. While the pictures were provocative, it was the caption that took the cake.

The 28-year-old wrote, “Breaking news: Canelo Alvarez ducked me, Jake Paul, and is now an owned slave with no regard for the pride of the Mexican people who support him on US soil,” confirming the fact that there were indeed conversations between his and Canelo’s camp regarding the fight and they had even signed a deal until the Mexican star decided to back out.

Jake Paul didn’t just stop at making it a USA vs. Mexico rivalry but also put a question mark on Cinnamon’s whole career. “It’s not surprising when his whole career he has done nothing for the sport of boxing outside the ring. I’m the new face of boxing,” declared Paul. He added, “You cannot have the biggest fight of 2025 without my name involved. When all of your events tank and lose money you will all realize who the king of the sport is.”

It looked like not getting Canelo Alvarez’s fight really infuriated Paul as he started listing down all his accomplishments in his 5-year-old career, including the record-breaking fight he had against Mike Tyson. “(I am)My own boss. Not owned. 5 years in. All of you felines want to see me fail, but God has other plans. It’s the era of good. The era of the elephant. It’s the era of MVP,” exclaimed the self-proclaimed ‘El Gallo’.

Fans would indeed love to see a legit boxer defeat Jake Paul someday. But they must also be delighted that Canelo Alvarez will not be the one to do that. After all, the ‘Cinnamon’ will only be at the top for a few more years. And it is better if he goes for legit fights against the likes of Dmitry Bivol to clear his past mistakes and not chase money fights. Well, to be honest, his involvement with His Excellency will earn him a hefty amount, even for these dream fights. Do chime in with your thoughts regarding the recent developments in the comment section down below.