Canelo's planned September fight with Terence Crawford fell through, leaving boxing fans confused. Now, the Mexican superstar has his sights set on the social media sensation turned boxer, Jake Paul.
Paul last stepped into the ring in November, beating Mike Tyson in a match-up that raised eyebrows. Since then, he's been looking for his next big fight, and Canelo fits the bill.
Turki Alalshikh, the driving force behind Riyadh Season, has become a major player in boxing over the past year and a half. He pushed hard for the Canelo-Crawford fight, but now that it's off the table, attention has turned to the Paul matchup.
Promoter Frank Warren, who's worked closely with Alalshikh, shared some inside info on the negotiations:
"The word on the street is they're trying to make Canelo against Jake Paul and one of the sticking points is maybe the weight. Money will determine that."
Warren wants to see the Crawford fight happen, but the weight issue for Canelo vs Paul is a real problem.
Canelo has fought his last five bouts at 168 pounds, where he holds the WBC, WBA, and WBO super-middleweight titles. Paul, on the other hand, has bounced around the scale.
In his controversial win over Tyson, Paul weighed in at 227 pounds. Before that, he fought at the cruiserweight limit of 200 pounds for three straight fights. His lightest weight came in February 2023 when he lost to Tommy Fury at 183 pounds.
Finding a weight that works for both fighters will be tough. Canelo won't want to move up too far from his comfort zone, while Paul will need to cut a significant amount to get anywhere near Canelo's weight class.
The two camps will need to crunch the numbers and find a compromise. As Warren said, money will likely play a big role in making this fight happen.