By Sean Jones: On Friday, Canelo Alvarez cut ties with DAZN and Golden Boy Promotions, wiping out his monstrous 11-fight, $365 million deal in the process. Only time will tell whether the Mexican star Canelo (53-1-2, 36 KOs) made the right move or not.
If Canelo’s future fights bring in less than what he would have made with DAZN, it’s possible he could retreat, leaving them.
The superstar Alvarez had been with Golden Boy Promotions for ten years since 2010, and he made a lot of money during that time. He enjoyed well-paying contests against Floyd Mayweather Jr, Gennady Golovkin, Miguel Cotto, and Daniel Jacobs, to name just a few.
Recently, Canelo had filed a $280 million lawsuit for breach of contract with Golden Boy Promotions and DAZN. If not for the litigation, Canelo would have likely fought by now in 2021. Instead, he’s been sitting on the sidelines, staying ready for when he gets his chance to get back in there.
DAZN reportedly wanted input on the type of opponents Canelo fought on their platform, making a lot of sense. Considering that they’re paying Canelo huge money for each fight, it was in their best interest to have a preference for the type of fighters that he faces.
For example, if Canelo were to fight arguably easier opposition like Avni Yildirim, Anthony Dirrell, and Billy Joe Saunders, U.S boxing fans’ interest likely wouldn’t be high in those type of match-ups. Those are good basic fighters, but not the type that would have a chance of beating Canelo.
Now that Canelo is no longer with DAZN and Golden Boy, it’s unclear whether he’s better off. If the idea is that Canelo can no be free to fight whoever he wants without a huge guarantee, he must pick opponents that will bring in pay-per-view buys.
Getting back into the PPV market during the pandemic is a dicey situation. Yeah, it can work to Canelo’s benefit, but only if he fights opposition that the American boxing fans are willing to pay to see.
The high unemployment in the U.S will make it difficult for any fighter to bring in the type of buys that they would have during better times. That’s not to say that Canelo can’t do extremely well on PPV, but it’s clear that he’s going to need to take risky fights to make the money that he was getting on DAZN.
ESPN Deports says that IBF super middleweight champion Caleb Plant is the target for Canelo’s next fight on December 19th. If this is true, it’s going to be a tough sale on Showtime pay-per-view. A fight between and Plant might bring in some buys, but it likely won’t be anywhere near what we saw in the past with Alvarez’s fights against Golovkin.
Canelo only fought three times in his 11-fight contract with DAZN, and he never took advantage of the money he would have made had he agreed to fight Golovkin in a trilogy match. That’s the fight that DAZN, and for some reason, Canelo chose not to make that fight. It’s a little hard to understand why Canelo chose to fight other guys rather than facing Golovkin, which would have pleased DAZN.
If Canelo is going to take on fighters that present minimal risk to him, he’ll have to be satisfied with smaller paydays. He can’t fight guys like Yildirim and expect the match to bring in one million pay-per-view buys.
Canelo will need to fight these talents to bring in PPV buys:
- Jermall Charlo
- Jermell Charlo
- Gennady Golovkin – Unlikely while he’s with DAZN
- David Benavidez
- Artur Beterbiev
- Dmitry Bivol