Turki Al-Sheikh missed an excellent opportunity to set up what he calls “The big fight‘ between Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford in September by choosing not to pursue the Jake Paul clash for May 3rd.
As Chris Mannix points out, Canelo vs. Paul would have been seen by 40-50 million viewers on Netflix, and many of them would have become fans of Alvarez. They would have been interested in watching Turki’s “big fight” between Canelo and Crawford on September 13th in their Riyadh Season clash.
Moreover, Jake has 28.7 million Instagram followers and 20.9 million YouTube subscribers, so a fight between him and Canelo should be advertised. It would likely turn a profit instead of Canelo’s May 3rd fight against William Scull losing money on DAZN. Additionally, the PPV buys for Canelo’s fight against 37-year-old Crawford would bring in better numbers.
The Lost Chance
In an interview with ESPN, Turki felt that the Canelo-Paul fight wouldn’t help set up the Crawford fight. How could he be so wrong? Does Turki think Canelo vs. William Scull is the perfect setup for Crawford? If the fight is seen by fewer viewers than the Jake Paul clash, how is that helping his “big fight?” Is he intentionally being obtuse?
There’s going to be very little interest from fans in Canelo-Scull. That’s not even on the level of Canelo’s mismatch against Edgar Berlanga last September. That’s a useless fight that does nothing for Canelo and does not help set up the circus fight against Crawford.
“Even though the Canelo-Jake Paul fight isn’t happening right now, I wouldn’t rule it out in the future,” said Chris Mannix on his YouTube channel, discussing the likelihood of Canelo Alvarez choosing to fight Jake Paul in the future. “Obviously, in Canelo’s mind to do this fight.
“He has said he wants to fight several more years. Jake Paul is only 28-years-old. If Jake Paul is in boxing in two years, they’re going to fight. If Canelo is still a top-level guy, at least in terms of marketability, I still believe he is, it’s inevitable that we get Canelo vs. Jake Paul. Whether you like it or not, it’s going to happen. ”
“Edgar Berlanga cut corners. He fought nobody. His best win was against a guy named Padraig McCrory, and he wound up with the Canelo Alvarez fight. Jake Paul has cut a massive corner. He cut the line in a big, big way, but fighters cut the line all the time. Most fighters aren’t Marvin Hagler.”
Short-sighted?
Canelo vs. Paul will definitely happen because there’s too much money in that match, and it helps his career. William Scull doesn’t help Canelo, nor does fighting Bruno Surance or Jermall Charlo. A rematch with Dmitry Bivol won’t create a lot of interest. Bivol is not popular worldwide and definitely not in the U.S. His fighting style is boring, and he has nothing to say in interviews. No charisma. None of the fighters that have been floated as guys that Turki plans on matching against Canelo are popular, not even Crawford. He’s not popular outside of Omaha, Nebraska.
“All fighters try to gain the kind of popularity that Jake Paul has,” said Mannix. “Turki Al-Sheikh should have embraced this Jake Paul fight because there was no chance Canelo could lose. Canelo beats Jake Paul every day of the week and twice on Sundays. It’s a fact. That’s a fight that would be watched by a lot of people.”
Turki should have embraced the Jake Paul fight because of the sheer number of people who would watch it, which has grown Canelo’s fan base. If Turki wants a massive amount of people to watch Canelo fight Crawford, having him fight Jake would have been the way to do it.
“On Netflix, you’d probably get 40, 50 million eyeballs watching that fight,” said Mannix. “That grows the Canelo brand. One way or another, it grows the Canelo brand. It increases the visibility, and by extension, if Canelo is fighting Jake Paul in front of a lot of eyeballs, some of those eyeballs are going to want to watch Canelo fight Terence in September. They might want to see Canelo fight in Riyadh in February or October.
“We’re not talking about opponents that are going to move the needle in May,” said Mannix. The guy that Canelo will be fighting in May is William Scull, who is a complete unknown. Canelo vs. Scull will NOT attract much interest from fans.
Last Updated on 02/09/2025
Read the full article here
