Boxing’s biggest box office star, Canelo Alvarez, may have his next four fights lined up after a whirlwind of a week regarding Alvarez and who may be his next opponent in the ring.
Alvarez has agreed to a deal with Turki Alalshikh and Riyadh Season for four fights running through 2026, Alalshikh announced on social media Thursday night. Alalshikh stated in a video that Canelo would fight this May in Riyadh before a major fight in September, followed by two more fights in 2026.
Alvarez acknowledged Alashikah’s social media post, retweeting the announcement on the X platform.
Alalshikh indicated on the X platform that the September bout may be the highly anticipated matchup against four-division champion Terence Crawford. Crawford replied on the social media platform: “I’m waiting on Canelo in September and going to shock the world in Riyadh Season!”
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How the week started regarding Canelo Alvarez’s next fight
Until Thursday night’s announcement, Alvarez’s next move was up in the air, with reports of an agreement with Crawford soon followed by reports of a cancelation and the emergence of a potential Jake Paul bout. But then late Thursday, news came out of the deal with Riyadh Season.
On Monday, Ring Magazine reported that Alvarez and Crawford had an agreement in place for a deal that would see Crawford challenge Alvarez for his unified super middleweight titles, before a subsequent Ring Magazine report two days later indicated the fight was canceled for undisclosed reasons.
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Then reports began to surface across multiple outlets that Alvarez was in talks for a bout against Paul, which would’ve represented a monumental leap in competition for the Youtuber turned novice professional boxer. On Thursday night, ESPN’s Mike Coppinger reported that Alvarez was in the process of finalizing a deal to face Paul, in what surely would’ve been one of the year’s biggest boxing events.
Paul, while limited in true boxing experience, has proven himself as a commodity at the gate in recent years. His November fight against Mike Tyson peaked at 65 million concurrent viewers on Netflix, while the event drew over $18 million at the gate, a record for a U.S. combat sports event outside of Las Vegas.
Hours later, though, Alalshikh stifled any talk of a Paul fight with his announcement of Alvarez’s four-fight deal.
According to ESPN, a potential fight against Paul in May became an issue in negotiations for a Crawford bout, with Alalshikh then adding an additional May fight to what was previously a three-fight deal beginning in September for Alvarez.
“Canelo only fights real fighters,” Alalshikh said to ESPN.
Breaking down Canelo Alvarez’s four-fight deal
Alvarez’s two fights in 2026 will both take place in Riyadh, while the purported fight against Crawford would take place in Las Vegas, according to Ring Magazine, which is owned by Alalshikh.
ESPN’s Mike Coppinger reported two options in consideration for Alvarez’s fight in May are former middleweight champion Jermall Charlo and Bruno Surace, who recently upset Jaime Munguia.
Options for Alvarez’s first fight of 2026 include a Dmitry Bivol rematch and fights against Hamzah Sheeraz or Chris Eubank Jr., per Coppinger.
It is unclear whether Crawford plans to fight ahead of a potential bout against Alvarez later this year.
Alvarez, a four-division world champion, holds the WBC, WBO and WBA super middleweight titles and most recently defended his belts in September, when he won a unanimous decision over Edgar Berlanga.
Crawford, the WBA junior middleweight champion, last fought in August when he defeated Israil Madrimov by unanimous decision to claim the title in his first fight at 154 pounds.
Harrison Campbell covers boxing for The Tennessean and high school sports for The Daily Herald. Email him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @hccamp.
