Jake Paul saw a fight against Saul ‘Canelo‘ Alvarez fall through this year and will instead face one of his former opponents.
Paul says he and the elite Mexican were in advanced stages of making the fight happen before Canelo pulled the plug and instead opted to stay on the traditional side of the sport, signing a four-fight deal with Riyadh Season which kicks off with an undisputed fight against William Scull this weekend.
If he wins, he will then proceed with a mega fight against Terence Crawford and is unlikely to reconsider the Paul match-up until the end of his career.
Paul – who publicly branded Alvarez a ‘duck’ – recently announced that he will instead face former middleweight world champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr on June 28.
The son of a boxing legend, Chavez Jr’s career has been marred with issues outside of the ropes. At his best, he was victorious against the likes of Sebastian Zbik, Andy Lee and Peter Manfredo Jr. He has, however, also lost to former UFC star Anderson Silva, who Paul beat, and went the distance with Uriah Hall last time out, winning a decision some felt was lucky.
In between those results back, Chavez Jr lost a clear unanimous decision to Canelo in 2017, with none of the three judges giving him a round.
Still, asked by Seconds Out if he believes his former foe will beat Paul, Canelo answered positively.
“Yeah. I obviously support Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. I hope he wins. [If] he prepares himself really good and take it seriously and beat him.”
Chavez has said his motivation for the bout is to avenge Mike Tyson. Paul beat the heavyweight legend late last year in a controversial eight-rounder.
