Canelo Alvarez Reveals Truth Behind Jake Paul's $200M Fight Claim

Canelo Alvarez explained his side of a call he had with Jake Paul last week where they discussed a potential super fight.

Canelo Alvarez | IMAGO / ZUMA Press Wire

Jake Paul recently called out boxing superstar Canelo Alvarez for a massive fight. Paul, who is coming off a KO loss to Anthony Joshua, has been eyeing a fight with the Mexican superstar for multiple years.

While on a Kick stream, Paul claimed he was on a call with Alvarez discussing the possibility of the two meeting in the ring in the near future. He added that Alvarez has a $200M purse waiting for him if he signs on the dotted line, and that Canelo said "he's down" on the phone.

But Alvarez recently spoke to Ring Magazine CEO Rick Reeno on the Mr. Versace Podcast and gave his side of the story, which doesn't exactly match up to Paul's.

What happened from Canelo Alvarez’s perspective

Canelo Alvarez admitted he was blindsided by the call from Jake Paul. | IMAGO / ZUMA Press Wire

On the Kick stream, Jake Paul framed the call as if it were a planned business conversation between the two to discuss the fight, but Canelo Alvarez revealed that it wasn’t actually the case.

Canelo said what actually happened was Paul ran into one of Alvarez’s friends at Coachella, which led to a FaceTime call and the brief discussion.

“One of my friends was at Coachella and he saw Jake Paul,” Alvarez said. “I was with my little daughter and I saw the FaceTime from my friend and I just answered. Jake Paul was there with him. He started talking and saying ‘oh I respect you and this and that,’ oh yeah, I have nothing against you too, right?”

“My friend starts saying ‘$200 million, $200 million,’ and I don’t say anything because I don’t really care about this fight,’ Alvarez continued. “I just laughed and said, ‘No, I respect you too and I have nothing against you,' and that's it. That's the story.”

Canelo Alvarez speaks out to @VersaceBoxing on his shock phone call with Jake Paul 👀

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Alvarez previously signed on to fight Paul in May 2025 before Alvarez switched gears to sign a four-fight deal with Turki Alalshikh instead. It appears that a fight against Paul doesn’t interest the superstar as much as it once did.

Canelo Alvarez claims Jake Paul can’t sell tickets without him

There’s no doubting that Canelo Alvarez is one of, if not the most popular, fighters in boxing today. When Alvarez fights, people tune in.

Alvarez recently came in at second on Forbes' list of the highest paid athletes in the world, raking in an estimated $170M over the past 12 months, and his net worth is in the hundreds of millions.

Jake Paul and Canelo Alvarez reached an agreement for a fight in May 2025 before Alvarez decided to fight William Scull instead. | IMAGO / Hoganphotos

The future Hall-of-Fame knows he’s the biggest money maker in boxing. While Jake Paul was the only other boxer on the list, coming in at 23rd, he still made $100M less than Alvarez.

“What I realized is that in every single event, they need to talk about me to sell tickets and pay-per-view,” Alvarez said. “I think Jake Paul didn’t sell so many tickets for the fight he had with his company and that’s why he brings that situation, the 200 million … I just laugh, I’m not worried about anything.”