Jake Paul slams 'money-hungry squirrel' Canelo after Mexican ditches Paul for Riyadh Season deal

Jake Paul thought he'd landed the massive fight he'd been aiming for ever since he started boxing, only for the rug to be pulled out from under him by the very man he was set to face.

Reports were circulating that Paul and Saul "Canelo" Alvarez had agreed to fight in a huge box-office fight, with an announcement reportedly imminent.

But later it was announced that Canelo had signed a colossal four-fight deal with Riyadh Season that includes a huge clash with Terence Crawford in Las Vegas, plus a trio of bouts in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia against opponents to be determined in due course.

RELATED: Canelo Alvarez signs colossal four-fight deal with Riyadh Season

It certainly appears that Canelo may have used a possible bout with Paul as leverage to get the deal he wanted from Turki Alalsheikh and Riyadh Season.

The news prompted Paul's management company, Most Valuable Promotions, to issue a statement strongly criticizing Canelo after his alleged about-face.

"MVP was deep in negotiations for a blockbuster fight between Jake Paul and Canelo Alvarez on Cinco de Mayo weekend in Las Vegas, a massive event for the Mexican, Puerto Rican and American fans, and it's disappointing to see how the situation unfolded," the statement began.

"MVP operates with integrity, transparency, and respect for the sport, its athletes, and the fans. Unfortunately, not everyone in the boxing world shares those values.

"This situation is a reminder not to believe everything you read, especially when the current media environment is often controlled by those with hidden agendas, including promoters who have reporters on their payroll.

"We remain in active discussions with multiple high-profile opponents and are committed to delivering the biggest fights, the most exciting events, and to working with partners who share our values and our commitment to boxing and its fighters.

"Jake Paul isn't going anywhere, and neither is MVP. We'll continue to disrupt boxing, on our terms."

While the official statement from MVP was a professional, if strongly-worded, one, Paul himself was somewhat less buttoned-up in his own response, as he labeled Canelo an "owned slave" in a social media post that featured some creative use of AI to depict Paul standing over a downed, defeated Canelo in the center of the boxing ring.

That drew a strong response from the Mexican star.

"Hey guys, don't pay attention to anything from this fucking YouTuber," he said in a social media video posted by Ring Magazine.

"I just fight real fighters. No fucking around with Canelo. Come on, let's go."

Paul then responded with a video of his own as he took aim at Canelo and showed what was claimed to be a signed contract, as well as a fight poster.

"So, we had a signed contract to fight. Here, you can see Cannel’s signature and my signature to the right. Claiming he’s not fighting YouTubers? Bullshit.

"Look at the poster. We were announcing Tuesday, Feb. 11. Claiming he fights real fighters, but he fighting Crawford, a 135-pound fighter, and running from a real fighter like David Benavidez? You bitch.

"The truth is, you can be bought. You're a money-hungry squirrel chasing your next nut. The truth is, the sports-washing shady characters are paying you hundreds of millions of dollars to stop our fight from happening because they couldn’t fathom the fact that they can’t create a bigger fight than me and you.

"Al Haymon has made you hundreds of millions of dollars, and you turned your back on him for this check. Disloyal. And you were begging to do this fight on pay-per-view, but I have loyalty. Loyalty to Netflix, doing the biggest numbers. You call me a Youtuber, but you’ve never had a boxing match as big as mine.

“Remember you told my team that your daughter came home and asked if you were fighting Jake Paul? She was all excited. You said that was the first time your daughter’s ever asked you about a fight.

"You’re screwing over all your Mexican fans by doing your fights in Saudi. It just shows what type of person you are. And I promise you one thing Canelo: any fight that you do this year, mine will be bigger.

"So, go fuck off to your boss, you Ring Magazine employee. You pink and orange bitch.”

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