Saul “Canelo” Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford is back on for September.
After a chaotic few days in the boxing world, Alvarez formally signed a lucrative four-fight deal late Thursday night with Riyadh Season, the entity operated by Turki Alalshikh and Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority. Uncrowned confirmed the news Thursday following an initial report by Ring Magazine, which is owned by Alalshikh.
As a result of Alvarez’s new agreement with Riyadh Season, Uncrowned has learned that Alvarez will not be facing Jake Paul in May, despite previous reports stating otherwise.
The first fight of Alvarez’s new deal takes place in May in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. IBF super middleweight champion William Scull is a potential opponent for that date, although nothing yet has been determined. A victory over Scull would make Alvarez’s next fight — a re-booked Las Vegas showdown in September for a blockbuster fight against Crawford at Allegiant Stadium — an undisputed super middleweight title bout, as Alvarez is already the WBA, WBC and WBO super middleweight champion.
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Under the terms of the deal, Alvarez (62-2-2, 39 KOs) will then box twice in Riyadh in 2026 — in February and October, the closing of Riyadh Season 2025-26 and the opening of Riyadh Season 2026-27.
Opponents for “Canelo” in 2026 are undetermined at this time, however a Dmitry Bivol rematch, Hamzah Sheeraz and Chris Eubank Jr. are understood to be in early play for Alvarez’s February 2026 bout.
Eubank Jr. previously agreed on a two-fight deal with Alalshikh for money-spinning all-British fights with Conor Benn in 2025, with the first bout scheduled for April 26 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London. Bivol upset Alvarez when they clashed in May 2022 and now looks to win the undisputed light heavyweight crown in a rematch with Artur Beterbiev on Feb. 22 in Riyadh; Sheeraz also competes on that undercard, challenging for his first world title against Carlos Adames.
The past several days have been nothing short of hectic in the world of boxing.
First, on Monday, news broke from Alalshikh’s media outlet that Alvarez had agreed upon terms to face Crawford in a blockbuster battle of four-division champions in September. But just 48 hours later, news broke from Alalshikh’s outlet once again that Alvarez vs. Crawford talks had fallen apart for unspecified reasons. On Thursday afternoon, ESPN reported that Alvarez would instead face Paul in Las Vegas on May 3 and that negotiations between Alvarez and Alalshikh had been suspended altogether.
However, just hours later, Alalshikh announced his four-fight deal with Alvarez on social media.
Don’t mess with the lion 🦁… 4 fights for Canelo with Riyadh Season … The Deal is done 🥊 … A Lion 🦁 doesn’t lose sleep over opinion of a sheep 🐑… Fear the lion 🦁 not the jungle 🤷🏻♂️ pic.twitter.com/OJTaapvPfU
— TURKI ALALSHIKH (@Turki_alalshikh) February 7, 2025
Alalshikh followed up the post with a video outlining the dates and locations for Alvarez’s four fights.
Alvarez, 34, is Uncrowned’s No. 6-ranked pound-for-pound boxer in the world, while Crawford, 37, is Uncrowned’s No. 2-ranked pound-for-pound male boxer.
A former undisputed champion at 147 pounds, Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) moved up to 154 pounds in August and captured the WBA and WBO interim junior middleweight titles with a successful divisional debut against Israil Madrimov. In September, however, Crawford will vault up two more weight classes to 168 pounds to challenge boxing’s biggest star, Alvarez, who has fought as high as the 175-pound light heavyweight division.