Canelo Alvarez and the Mexican consumer power in boxing

By Boxing News - 03/01/2013 - Comments

alvarez343By By Hector Gonzalez: Canelo Alvarez dropped out of the Mayweather vs Guerrero card after Mayweather refused to sign an agreement that Mayweather and Alvarez would fight in September during Mexican Independence day if it is that both fighters are to win their designated matches on Cinco de Mayo.

Canelo than drops out of the card and reschedules his bout with Austin Trout to April 20th stating that he is not going to he help Mayweather sell PPV sales if Mayweather is not helping him. All I could say is good for him. My support for Canelo Alvarez’s decision is not necessarily based on skill or accomplishments in the ring, but more importantly, it’s based on consumer power and in the case of Canelo Alvarez and the Mexican boxing community they have much clout. Enough so that Canelo and other Mexican fighters should be dictating more of their terms.

Jim Lampley is on record saying that Canelo Alvarez is also to credit for the number of PPV sales for the Mayweather vs Cotto card as Canelo Alvarez vs Shane Mosley was on the under card. Canelo Alvarez sold out the MGM Grand last September when he fought a relatively unknown fighter in Josesito Lopez. 1.4 million people tuned in to watch the fight that night with a sold out crowd… By the way, that was the same night that Chavez Jr lost to Sergio Martinez whose fight sold 1.4 million in PPV sales. That night 2.8 million people tuned in to watch Mexican fighters on a Mexican holiday with arenas full of Mexican boxing fans.

I see similar examples all across boxing, and I would hope that more Mexican fighters would start taking Canelo’s lead. For example, during the Doniare vs Nishioka fight, Mike Alvarado vs Brando Rios fought on the under card for a spectacular fight that lead to a fight of the year candidate, with more than half of the stadium being of Mexican decent out numbering both the Filipino fans and Japanese fans. Months later Donaire had a hard time negotiating with Arce as Jorge ‘El Travieso’ Arce was demanding more money and Donaire was refusing. At the end of negotiating it was understand that Donaire might have been the belt holder, but it would predominantly be Jorge Arce fans and the Mexican fans who pay them both. Arce walked away with $800,000 that night by holding his ground.

Juan Manuel Marquez is taking similar steps as reports are saying that he is demanding at least 20 million dollars for a rematch with Pacquiao from the promoter Bob Arum. One could make the argument that Pacquiao holds the name and therefore he deserves the bigger purse, or one could also make the argument that in actually the selling point of the fight is that people are interested in seeing them both matched against each other as equals- as in both of them in totally giving the fight entertainment value and therefore the purse should be shared more evenly. But one thing is for sure, while Filipino’s or Pacquiao fans are becoming less interested in Pacquiao, Mexican fans continue to be loyal and proud for their fighters, continually contributing to keeping boxing alive.

As long as; the main gloves in boxing are the Reyes gloves (a Mexican brand), the main sponsors are Corona beer and Tecate beer (Mexican beers), the mega fights happen on Mexican Holidays (Cinco de Mayo and Mexican Independence day), than Mexican fighters such as Canelo and Marquez deserve more bargaining power when negotiating fights.



Comments are closed.