Canelo Alvarez vs Jake Paul would have been a circus act - and boxing is to blame
Canelo Alvarez vs Jake Paul would have been a circus act - and boxing is to blame
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Last week it was Terence Crawford, then it was Jake Paul. Now it’s Crawford again. Welcome to the crazy world of boxing’s biggest star, Saul Canelo Alvarez. It appeared all the talk of Crawford, a fight announced by the Ring Magazine, owned by Turki-Alalshikh and the Saudi Arabian Entertainment Authority, had fallen through. In came Paul, a YouTuber with a huge following and a platform that gives him market power.
He is not a fighter, but that does not seem to matter in this era where sport and entertainment collide. Maybe it was ruse to bring the Saudis back to the table. If so it worked with Canelo singing a four-fight £200m deal, including the Crawford fight in September. It may be the Paul fight, slated for Canelo’s annual Cinco de Mayo slot, Mexico’s big public holiday in May, still goes ahead. When Paul fought Mike Tyson it made both a bundle.
It’s not elite boxing. It's reality TV, the most streamed ‘sporting’ event in history. I look at Paul and see someone who meddles in boxing but does not box. He fights either older or smaller men. If he really wants to be a fighter then go out and be one, take it seriously. Get into training and work your way up through the levels. The sport has itself to blame for this kind of nonsense. I ask myself at what stage does boxing draw a line under this stuff? Freak shows like this are frustrating and undermining. It’s all about money but it does nothing for the integrity of boxing.
HAVE YOUR SAY! Should Canelo Alvarez fight Jake Paul? Comment below. On the plus side, I suppose it says something about the essential appeal of watching people fight. I’m a purist but not everybody is. The neutral would be all over it because they are curious about the outcome. Paul is a bogus hardman, a circus act. Nothing more than that. Most would be tuning in just to see him flattened by a proper fighter. Whoever Canelo meets in May, it seems the fight with Crawford that has been talked about for months is finally happening.
It’s a stretch for Crawford, a welterweight, much in the same way it was for Canelo, a super- middleweight, when he fought Dimitry Bivol, who as a light-heavyweight was just too big. For all his talent and endeavour, Canelo could not make any impression on the bigger man and fell to only his second career defeat. I fear Crawford could be in the same boat. But at least it’s a contest between authentic, world class boxers.
