It is crazy to think a fight between boxing’s biggest star, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, and influencer-turned-boxer Jake Paul almost reached the finish line for May 2025, until talks reportedly broke down at the 11th hour when Alvarez signed a four-fight deal with Turki Alalshikh instead.

Alvarez explained how the talks to fight Paul really went down during an in-studio appearance Wednesday on Uncrowned’s “The Ariel Helwani Show.”

Advertisement

“Yes [we were close to fighting],” Alvarez said, “but I’d already signed with [Alalshikh].

“I wanted to fight in May [2025], but [Alalshikh didn’t] want like a hard fight for me, and I said, ‘Well, [the Paul fight] is the correct fight to do.'”

With Alalshikh’s Riyadh Season planning to host this past September’s mega-fight between Alvarez and Crawford, it was understandable why Alalshikh’s team was against the Mexican superstar taking a tough challenge just a few months beforehand.

Alalshikh, however, wasn’t a fan of the Paul fight either, and thus it never came to fruition.

“With my respect, that was my thoughts [that Paul wouldn’t be a hard fight],” Alvarez explained. “And when [Alalshikh’s team] found out, they said, ‘You know what? No. You don’t’ — and yes, I don’t — ‘need that kind of fight.”

Advertisement

“[I’m] not [interested] right now anymore. But in that moment [last year], I say, ‘Maybe in the future.’ But I don’t really want it, but you know I said [last year], ‘Maybe it’s the correct time to do it.’ I [was] thinking about it and when [Alalshikh’s team] realized, they say, ‘No, no, no, you don’t need that fight.’ And then they give me the fight in Riyadh.”

Alvarez instead fought William Scull in a historically dreadful title bout in Riyadh for the undisputed super middleweight championship. With Alvarez-Scull being such abysmal viewing and having much less intrigue than a Paul fight would’ve had, it’s easy to look back in hindsight and say boxing missed out on the more compelling event.

Alvarez vs. Paul remains one of the sport’s most lucrative potential fights if Paul were to compete again. “Canelo,” however, is happy to leave the matchup in the past.

Advertisement

“No, [a Paul fight doesn’t make sense] anymore,” Alvarez said. “I think he needs to think about [whether he should be] fighting again. But it’s his life, it’s not my life, right?”

Instead of fighting Alvarez — a small super middleweight, who Paul would’ve had a size advantage over — the brash American decided to jump up both in levels and in weight to face the towering former unified heavyweight champion, Anthony Joshua.

It’s fair to say that decision definitely did not go well for him.

Paul broke his jaw in two places when he was brutally knocked out by Joshua this past December. He told Uncrowned in May that doctors have advised him to never step in the ring again, although a decision on his fighting future has not yet been made.

Advertisement

“Yes [it was a mistake fighting Joshua], you can tell. It’s just facts,” Alvarez said of Paul. “It’s not an opinion, nothing, it’s already happened. It was a mistake thinking you’re really a fighter. He can fight, he can make money — he’s a showman. He did really well, but to be a real fighter is different.”

Alvarez concluded the segment by advising Paul to think hard about whether he should continue fighting and risk his long-term health.