Jake Paul’s pie in the sky callout of Saul ‘Canelo’ Álvarez is starting to look a little more realistic – at least that’s if the 6-0 American is to be believed.
Paul has become a marmite figure in the sport, dividing fans with his brash arrival and unwavering confidence. Whilst there’s a whole area of boxing that’s now dubbed ‘YouTube’, he seems to want to move away from that and have a serious go.
One name on his list is four-weight world champion, Canelo. Jake Paul has made no secrets about wanting to face the pound-for-pound star but, up until now, it looked highly unlikely.
In a recent interview with Anthony Pompliano, he claimed to have had positive conversations with Canelo’s lawyer.
“We have talked to his lawyer and I think he is getting to a place where he sees how serious how I am. I think at first everyone thought this was a joke and my mouth was bigger than my actions but now they are matching.”
As with many Paul fights, there would be a weight disparity in his favour, although the Mexican superstar has recently jumped up to 175lb which closes the gap slightly.
The American believes he can compete with Canelo in the near future, partly because they have sparred the same people.
“Especially if a fight is a year from now or two years from now. I am sparring people that were in both of their training camps for the trilogy. I am sparring Golovkin’s sparring partners, I am sparring Canelo’s partners. [Ron] Ellis, all of these guys and I am sparring people from both of their camps. They came out to my camps.”
Finally, the 25-year-old who last fought MMA legend Anderson Silva, believes it would be huge in a business sense – and, for better or worse, he’s not wrong.
“I think the fight with Canelo would be an entertainment spectacle. I don’t think anyone has got into Canelo’s head and I feel that I can, I think that is an iconic fight to make and it would shut the internet down. I think he thinks he can whoop my a** and that I am just a YouTuber kid.”
Whether or not Canelo has been kept up to date by his lawyer, only time will tell, although this quote from May says that he may consider it one day.
“The thing I’m thinking is why you guys [are] asking me for that fight. Jake Paul, please guys. Maybe in two years… we can talk… I hope he improves more and he does a really good job.”