Hot off the heels of HBO’s announcement that they would no longer be involved with boxing, the sports biggest cash cow and former HBO Pay-Per-View star, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (50-1-2, 34 KOs) announced a deal with streaming service with DAZN on Wednesday that will make him the highest paid athlete in the world (according to ESPN).
The record-shattering deal is a five-year, 11-fight agreement worth a minimum of $365 million with DAZN. Canelo’s historic deal is the richest athlete contract in sports history–even more than the 13-year, $325 million agreement that New York Yankees baseball star Giancarlo Stanton signed in 2014 when he was with the Miami Marlins.
The journey begins Saturday, December 15, 2018 when Canelo makes his first appearance at the historic Madison Square Garden, challenging Rocky Fielding (27-1, 15 KOs) for his WBA Super Middleweight world title.
“We are thrilled to be exclusive partners with Golden Boy Promotions and Oscar De La Hoya,” said John Skipper, DAZN Group Executive Chairman. “By bringing Canelo’s fights to DAZN, we will turn his pay-per-view success into a growth engine for subscribers–a truly transformational moment for our business and the entire industry.”
As part of the partnership, Golden Boy Promotions will put on up to 10 high-caliber fight nights per year that will stream live on DAZN beginning in early 2019.
“This is easily one of the best days in the growing history of Golden Boy Promotions,” said Oscar De La Hoya, Golden Boy Promotions Chairman and CEO. “We are committed to making this sport as accessible as possible and at an affordable price for all the fans. My dream has been to make boxing a sport for all. DAZN has the perfect platform to make this dream come true, and with the biggest star in the sport at the helm of this journey, I have no doubts that we will succeed in unimaginable ways.”
Alvarez is coming off the biggest win of his career in September, a majority-decision victory against Gennady “GGG” Golovkin to become the WBC, WBA, Lineal and Ring Magazine Middleweight champion.
His 50-win career also boasts victories over Miguel Cotto, Amir Khan, Erislandy “The American Dream” Lara, Austin Trout, “Sugar” Shane Mosley, among many others. Now Alvarez will seek to join a small and illustrious list of three-division world champions from Mexico as he steps up to 168 pounds to challenge Fielding.
For all of you “boxing is dead” drum beaters–let all that sink in for a moment.
“I’ve always liked a challenge, and this is yet another challenger in my career,” said Canelo. “Being part of this historic deal will require me to prepare myself even more and offer fans even better performances. At the same time, I am humbled to be selected to lead this new vision for the sport of boxing, which will without a doubt be for the benefit of the fans.”
Canelo is obviously ecstatic because he is getting paid in a major way, but fight fans in the United States should be happy as well as the high-priced boxing fights are slowly becoming a thing of the past–at least with the DAZN fights.
“This is only from my hard work,” said Alvarez to ESPN shortly after he signed the paperwork. “The most important thing to me was being able to give the fans the opportunity to see me fight without having to pay the $70 or $80 for my fights on pay-per-view. That was the most important thing, more important than what I am making.”
The DAZN streaming service is only $9.99 per month and has already featured two solid fight cards featuring some of the sports best fighters, including Anthony Joshua.
“It’s very important for me to give the fans the biggest fights and the most important fights, and I promise you I will always do that,” said Canelo. “The December fight with Fielding is a dangerous fight. I am moving up in weight, and I don’t know how my body will feel. But I always want to take on challenges, and I am very happy my fans will be able to see me fight for a small cost.”
At Wednesday’s kick-off press conference in New York, Eddie Hearn told the media that by joining Anthony Joshua on DAZN, Canelo Alvarez has now changed the game.
“This is a game changer for the sport of boxing,” said Hearn. “And now with the likes of Anthony Joshua and Canelo Alvarez on DAZN, the whole game is about to change.”
Hard to argue with that.
Header photo by Tom Hogan/Golden Boy Promotions
