Why did Saul Alvarez scrap his Terence Crawford fight in favor of Jake Paul?
Probably because “Canelo” is a prize fighter, and there is no bigger prize in boxing than “El Gallo,” regardless of his skills as a professional pugilist. Especially after his controversial victory over Mike Tyson, which may prompt a purchase from bitter fight fans looking to see Paul get his long-overdue comeuppance.
That’s according to longtime promoter, Eddie Hearn.
“The move to fight Jake Paul maybe derailed the other fight but I don’t blame Canelo Alvarez because financially, the bigger fight is Jake Paul,” Hearn told Ring Magazine. “Because in that fight, you got two big stars. In the [Crawford] fight, you got two great fighters and one big star. And Terence Crawford, who should be a big star — but the reality is, he isn’t. He’s an unbelievable fighter. As I’m hearing, Canelo vs. Jake Paul is done. And I get it. I’ll watch it.”
There was a time when Paul thought embattled UFC star Conor McGregor was the “final boss.”
“If it’s on Amazon Prime it would be pay-per-view and with DAZN, I dunno how it’s going to work,” Hearn told IFL TV in a separate interview. “But the fight does, on pay-per-view, at $90 the fight does potentially two million buys. Which is $180 million of revenue, just TV revenue. Not closed circuit, not the gate. The gate’s another $30 million. You’re looking at over $200 million in revenue for that fight. I think that fight generates $200 million if it does two million buys.”
That’s less than half of what McGregor pulled against Floyd Mayweather, according to this network “weasel.”
Nothing is official at this time and as Hearn indicated in the Ring Magazine interview, “everything can change overnight.” Hopefully promoters can make an announcement in the coming days, though something tells me Paul would love to steal some of Dana White’s traffic on Saturday and go public during UFC 312.
Stay tuned.
