Reports of a Canelo Alvarez (62-2-2, 39 KO’s) vs. Jake Paul bout being planned appears to have been widely exaggerated as The Ring announces a four-fight deal between Riyadh Season and the Mexican champion. General Enterainment Authority (GEA) chairman, Turki Alalshikh―also considered the head of Riyadh Season, reached an agreement with Canelo Alvarez, dispelling prior reports suggesting Alvarez was heading into a bout against Paul on May 3rd.

At the front of this issue remains the report from ESPN writer Mike Coppinger claiming that Alvarez and Paul were finalizing a deal for a bout in May, which was contradicted by a prior article of boxing writer Dan Rafael who reported the two fighters’ teams were in discussions though no formal negotiations were confirmed to be taking place.

It now appears that Rafael’s version of events seem to have been correct following the announcement of Alvarez’ four-fight deal with Riyadh Season, indicating that there had never been any substance to the alleged discussions between Alvarez and Paul. Canelo Alvarez has further been confirmed to be participating in his first fight on a Riyadh Season card in May. Moreover, the card is set to be staged in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

While a fight between Alvarez and Terence Crawford (41-0, 31 KO’s) has not yet been publicly confirmed, The Ring has suggested this fight would take place in September according to “a source with knowledge of the details”, which points towards The Ring owner Turki Alalshikh as the likely source given his involvement in signing Alvarez to Riyadh Season in the first place.

Despite these new developments, question marks surround The Ring’s own reporting which claimed that “a source had advised” them of the Alvarez-Crawford fight being off, which again alluded towards Turki Alalshikh. Mike Coppinger would later report that Alalshikh had suspended the finalizing of contracts for a Alvarez-Crawford bout, though this news now appear to be untrue given Canelo’s four-fight deal with Riyadh Season.

In essence, misinformation or misreporting appears to have confuddled what actually transpired; Alvarez securing a four-fight deal with Riyadh Season that should still include a bout against Terence Crawford.

The four-fight deal with Riyadh Season further confirms Alvarez’ departure from Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) with whom he had signed during the summer of 2023 for a three-fight deal, only for a split between the two parties to be reported a year later, though this would seemingly be debunked when Alvarez appeared on a PBC show against Jaime Munguia (44-2, 35 KO’s) for his second fight with the company. It was not substantiated whether this agreement ever changed but if the original deal was still in place, Alvarez’ three-fight agreement with PBC concluded last year when he faced Edgar Berlanga (22-1, 17 KO’s) in September.

While it is still anyone’s guess who Canelo Alvarez will fight in May, it is highly unlikely to be Jake Paul at this point. A likely candidate would be IBF super middleweight (168 lbs) champion William Scull (23-0, 9 KO’s) for a May 3rd unification bout between him and Alvarez as had been previously rumored.