Boxing

Jake Paul And David Benavidez Share Canelo Alvarez ‘Ducking’ Stories

Jake Paul and David Benavidez shared stories on Saul "Canelo" Alvarez refusing to fight them.

Grant Young

Jake Paul boyfriend of Jutta Leerdam watching the race WC Single Distances on March 15, 2025.
Jake Paul boyfriend of Jutta Leerdam watching the race WC Single Distances on March 15, 2025. / IMAGO / Pro Shots

While undefeated boxer and current WBA light heavyweight (regular) titleholder David Benavidez (30-0, 24 KOs) is busy crafting his legacy in the sport, the first topic of discussion surrounding him is usually the guys he hasn't been able to fight.

Specifically Saul "Canelo" Alvarez, who Benavidez has been publicly campaigning to fight for years now. However, given Canelo's refusal to sign on the dotted line and fight against Benavidez, he has since moved up in weight classes and is now trying to fight either Artur Beterbiev or Dmitry Bivol next (which isn't looking too good either).

Of course, Canelo was recently in talks to fight Jake Paul before ultimately ditching that idea, instead signing a four-fight deal with Turki Alalshikh that begins with a May 3 fight against William Scull. In the wake of this, Jake Paul has gone on a social media crusade asserting that Canelo "ducked" him, just as he was said to have ducked Benavidez.

Benavidez was a guest on a March 20 episode of BS with Jake Paul. And at one point, the two boxers shared stories about Canelo's repeated fight refusals.

"It has been really frustrating, to be honest with you," Benavidez said of Canelo not fighting him. "The way I can describe it to people like, you're about to get this promotion at your job and you know you're the best at your job and you can take over... and this fight, it makes the sense... and as for the people, they want to see as well."

"That's why this fight isn't happening, because he knows I'mma beat his *** when we get in there," Benavidez added.

"The situation with me, basically everything was ready to go, one-yard line, signed LOI and confidentiality agreement," Paul told Benavidez about his negotiations with Canelo. "But baasically Turki hates me... we heard through the back channels for multiple weeks... Turki was doing everything in his power to strip the fight, try to not make it happen."

"Canelo at some point is like 'Okay, you bought me. I'm not gonna fight this kid,'" Paul added.

Clearly both Paul and Benavidez aren't happy about the motivation behind Canelo's recent fight decisions.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers Boxing, Women’s Basketball, and the New York Mets for On SI. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco, where he also played Division 1 baseball for five years, and he thinks it’s time that Canelo Álvarez fights David Benavidez.