Match fixing in boxing is a tale of the past. In recent years, there have been barely any such fights that have officially been confirmed to be fixed. And guess what? Undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez agrees! The Mexican superstar is coming off a shutout win over Jaime Munguia earlier this year.

While there have been many speculations about who the future Hall of Famer may face next, nothing has been made official. Regardless, during an appearance on a Mexican YouTube channel, La Saga, for an interview, the host brought up some interesting rumors about match-fixing in the sport, which prompted ‘Cinnamon’ to deny its plausibility! 

Canelo Alvarez doesn’t deny its existence

Speaking to one of the biggest sports personalities in the country, the host quickly brought up, “There’s a lot of money involved [in boxing], lots of money, and there are those who think, and suddenly you hear it, the fight is fixed and that can be done”. Hearing this, Canelo almost interrupts the host to get his point across.

He retorted, explaining, “It is not possible at those levels, no. I am not telling you that it does not exist, but at those levels it is [impossible]”. Records of fixed boxing matches can be traced back to the 1800s. In 1890, a reporter from the San Francisco Call alleged that boxer George Mulholland deliberately lost a match against Wiley Evans in San Jose, California.

Likewise, in the more modern era, a 2010 fight between Paul Briggs and Danny Green was officially declared fixed by the Western Australia Professional Combat Sports Commission after investigations. While Green got out scotch-free, Briggs was found to have purposefully dived 29 seconds into the fight. However, the findings from the investigation were later overturned in 2012 by the High Court of Australia. Regardless, there have also been incidents where fake match-fixing accusations were also made! 

Dillon Danis accused Jake Paul of fixing fights

Back in August 2023, Bellator mixed martial artist Dillon Danis leaked personal messages with Jake Paul’s, then-head coach Shane Mosley. In these DMs, Danis alleged that Jake Paul would never fight him until he was injured or compromised going into the fight. Mosley’s supposed message to Danis read, “Doubt Jake will make the fight with you if he knows your knee is good tho so keep it on the low if you really trying to make that fight”.

Interestingly, Danis had claimed the rest of the conversation between them delved deep into how these fights are fixed, but conveniently, Danis decided not to show that part of their exchange because he claimed he didn’t want to deal with the lawsuits. When Paul got the wind of this, he said, “It’s fake. Stop asking stupid s**t” before fighting Nate Diaz. 

With that said, it’s safe to say that match-fixing in boxing has largely been eradicated. And think about it, purses in boxing matches these days are crazy—how many boxers would get offered more money than the purse to take a dive? Not to mention, in case they do it and get caught, that money wouldn’t suffice in fighting the legal battles that follow. What do you think—could there be match-fixing in boxing?