ByMike Coppinger
Friday, February 7, 2025 6:32AM
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LAS VEGAS — In a stunning 11th-hour development with a potential Jake Paul fight at the 1-yard line, Canelo Alvarez has instead closed a four-fight deal with Turki Alalshikh and Riyadh Season to salvage a Terence Crawford mega-fight in September, sources told ESPN on Thursday night.
The first fight of Alvarez’s four-fight deal will take place May 4 in Riyadh that Sunday morning for a prime-time broadcast Saturday night in the U.S., sources told ESPN. Two names being considered for that fight, which would serve as a tune-up for Crawford, are Jermall Charlo and Bruno Surace, according to sources.
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Earlier Thursday, sources told ESPN that Alvarez and Paul had been in the process of finalizing a deal for a May 3 cruiserweight fight at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. That fight now is no longer expected to happen.
Upon learning of Alvarez’s deal with Paul, Alalshikh, the chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, suspended efforts to finalize contracts for an Alvarez-Crawford bout, according to sources.
Hours later, Alvarez struck his four-fight deal with Riyadh Season.
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