Is Jake Paul the new face of boxing? For many boxing purists, the thought might be downright offensive. However, after the 27-year-old’s last fight against legendary Mike Tyson, that is becoming a new reality. Now, using the massive success and momentum, the fight has provided, ‘The Problem Child’ is challenging the ‘real’ face of boxing—Canelo Alvarez. 

While ‘Cinnamon’ has previously dismissed the idea of facing Jake Paul, he’s no stranger to changing his stance. Before his bout against Jaime Munguia, the former undisputed super middleweight champion famously declared he’d never fight a fellow Mexican. Yet, actions spoke louder than words.

Similarly, Canelo—who once demanded a staggering $200 million to face David Benavidez—might be tempted by the undeniable money-making potential a fight with Jake Paul could offer. So, the only thing left is actually making the fight. 

However, talkSport Boxing host Adam Catterall believes “there’s no way that any sanctioning body is going to sanction Canelo Alvarez to fight Jake Paul.” Nakisa Bidarian, Jake Paul’s manager, who co-owns Most Valuable Promotions, has other ideas. While speaking to Catterall and Gareth A Davies he defended the potential bout passionately. 

Bidarian argued sanctioning bodies are irrelevant to the conversation. The point is whether the Nevada Athletic Commission would allow a fight between Paul and Canelo Alvarez to happen. He pointed out, “If they do Mayweather and McGregor, why would they not do Canelo versus Jake?” It’s worth noting that Conor McGregor, despite being a celebrated UFC champion, lacked experience in boxing. 

Despite that, he was allowed by the commission to fight boxing’s biggest name at the time—Floyd Mayweather. The fight sold 4.6 million pay-per-view units and generated more than $600 million in revenue. It raked in $55.4 million in gate revenue alone, making it one of the biggest spectacles in boxing. 

Regardless, Paul’s business partner questioned, “Why did they sanction Conor McGregor who has much less boxing experience than Jake Paul to fight Floyd Mayweather, a 49-O undefeated boxer?” Bidarian, who claims to have been a part of the Mayweather vs. McGregor bout in 2017, boasted about its success. 

“It was a straight-up professional 10×3 fight. And to this day, [it’s] still the most successful global fight outside of Paul-Tyson,” Bidarian told Adam Catterall. Bidarian concluded that he sees no issues in making a fight between Paul and Canelo. In the meantime, Paul took to social media with something big.

Canelo Alvarez or not, Jake Paul teases big announcement

Whether you like him or not, ‘The Problem Child’ indeed brought a lot of new eyes to the sport of boxing with his last bout on Netflix. It did numbers nobody would have even dreamt about just last year. 65 million peak concurrent viewers, $18 million in gate revenue—all through one boxing event. And today, he hopped on X to reveal something big is on its way.

“Big week ahead,” Paul wrote. “Old ego-driven men trying to change boxing is never going to work. I got the magic stick. Announcement soon.” Interestingly, the Cleveland native has received several fight offers from some of the biggest names in boxing, including Artur Beterbiev, and Daniel Dubois—the names are just piling up. It would be interesting to see who is next.

That said, Paul’s manager, Nakisa Bidarian, is confident a fight between Jake Paul and Canelo Alvarez will get the green light pretty quickly. All that is left is for Canelo to agree. Plus, with Paul teasing an announcement, who knows what’s on the horizon? What do you think is next for the influencer boxer?