"I would eat you alive" - When Jake Paul told Canelo Alvarez he can't sell PPVs
2021 saw some interesting Canelo Alvarez-Jake Paul drama.
Back in June, following an exhibition encounter between boxing legend Floyd Mayweather Jr. and YouTuber Logan Paul, undisputed super-middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez took to Twitter to post only a facepalm emoji to troll the fighters.
Logan's younger brother Jake Paul came to his defense by quote-tweeting Alvarez's original post and saying that 'Cinnamon' is incapable of selling pay-per-views like them.
"You can’t sell PPVs. I would eat you alive," Paul had said in response to Alvarez.
See Jake Paul's tweet about Canelo Alvarez earlier this year below:
you can’t sell PPV’s
I would eat you alive twitter.com/Canelo/status/…
Incidentally, the Alvarez vs. Caleb Plant undisputed title fight on November 6, 2021, reportedly garnered 800,000 pay-per-view buys despite going head-to-head with UFC 268: Kamaru Usman vs. Colby Covington 2, which ended up with approximately 700,000 purchases.
Paul, on the other hand, made 500,000 buys when he fought Tyron Woodley for the first time in August. But the December rematch is speculated to have amassed around only 65,000 purchases from satellite and cable TV, while the number of digital streaming buys is yet to be found.
Canelo Alvarez's career best pay-per-view sales (2,200,000) were from his clash with Mayweather back in September 2013, when he lost via a majority decision, while 'The Problem Child' is said to have made close to 1,500,000 buys for the Ben Askren outing, which he won by knockout.
Canelo Alvarez will move up to the cruiserweight division next
Canelo Alvarez will be trying to add one more belt to his cabinet when he squares off against WBC cruiserweight champion Ilunga Makabu in 2022.
Alvarez's trainer and manager, Eddy Reynoso, made a special petition to the World Boxing Council to allow the fight to happen since the 31-year-old Mexican has never competed in the cruiserweight division.
Ilunga Makabu has arrived in USA to prepare for his mandatory @WBCBoxing cruiser weight title defense vs Mchunu with the winner fighting @Canelo @CANELOTEAM https://t.co/oAogdNrUvq
However, Makabu first has to beat mandatory title challenger Thabiso Mchunu on January 29 next year at the Packard Music Hall in Warren, Ohio.
Alvarez holds a 57-1-2 win-loss-draw record in his professional boxing career so far, while Makabu is 28-2-0.