YouTube boxer Jake Paul is slated to lock horns with former middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. on June 28th at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. However, that’s not the fight ‘The Problem Child’ was gunning for initially. Before eventually settling on Chavez Jr., Paul was determined to lure former undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez into the ring. 

Earlier this year, reports had suggested Canelo and Paul were close to signing an agreement to fight. However, ‘Cinnamon’ left ‘El Gallo’ high and dry at the last moment to sign a four-fight deal with His Excellency Turki Alalshikh. This agreement will see the Mexican superstar fight IBF super middleweight champion William Scull on May 3rd and Terence Crawford in September later this year. 

However, in doing so, Canelo seems to have cost Jake Paul a whopping $200 million in revenue. You see, before news about Canelo’s deal with Alalshikh dropped like a nuke on the Cleveland native, Eddie Hearn, who often promotes Canelo Alvarez, said, “The fight does, on pay-per-view, at $90, the fight does potentially two million buys.” 

“Which is $180 million of revenue, just TV revenue. Not closed circuit, not the gate. The gate’s another $30 million. You’re looking at over $200 million in revenue for that fight. I think that fight generates $200 million if it does two million buys,” he added. And now, Canelo Alvarez seems to have come clean on disregarding the fight agreement, which ended in Paul’s loss.

Speaking to Fight Hub TV, Canelo revealed how close they were to making the fight. “We have an agreement with the promoters to go and sell the fight and everything, but not that close,” Canelo said. It’s clear the Paul-Canelo fight is not happening anytime soon, since Canelo is spoken for in his next four outings.

But the question is—can a fight between them ever happen? 

Canelo Alvarez is happy the fight didn’t happen, but…

Canelo Alvarez is happy his blockbuster bout with Jake Paul collapsed—but he hasn’t ruled it out entirely. “I’m very happy. Things happen for a reason, and I’m happy with this and I’m gonna enjoy it as much as I can,” Canelo told SunSport. While Paul’s camp had Netflix backing and global hype, Canelo struggled to see it as a real contest.

“Calling it a fight is very difficult for me, man… it’s more like an event,” he said. Still, the buzz reached even his daughter’s school. “She told me, ‘You’re gonna fight with Jake Paul?’ And I said, ‘He’s not on my level, my love, don’t worry!’” While Canelo is focused on William Scull and Terence Crawford, the Paul bout isn’t entirely off the table.

“I’m focused on this fight, and we’ll see, we’ll see if that fight happens. We’ll see, maybe it’s gonna be the biggest? We don’t know,” Canelo said. 

That said, it appears Jake Paul will have to come to terms with losing $200 million one way or the other. As for a potential fight against Canelo Alvarez, only time will tell whether that fight can ever happen. What do you make of Canelo’s decision?