BISH BASH DOSH
Big deals hit sport
SAUL ‘CANELO’ ALVAREZ signed a record-breaking £278m deal this week with subscription channel DAZN for the exclusive rights to broadcast his fights in the US.
More money than ever is swirling around the world of boxing and more TV companies want to get in the mix than ever, with Alvarez’s five-year contract further proof of that.
You might think that is a good thing. Maybe think again as if you want to see the best taking on the best on a regular basis, then the outlook is not so good.
TV wars are set to be the biggest blocks to big fights in the already fractured world of professional boxing.
Take the US for example, where DAZN are now big players along with ESPN, Fox and Showtime after the departure of HBO.
WBA and WBC middleweight champion Alvarez has just signed with them, while another of their fighters, Demetrius Andrade, is aiming to claim the vacant WBO title this weekend.
The following Saturday, Eddie Hearn-promoted Daniel Jacobs is in action for the vacant IBF middleweight crown on HBO, but the American will soon be on DAZN too.
Gennady Golovkin is a free agent but if he doesn’t sign with DAZN, he can kiss goodbye to getting a shot at revenge on Alvarez for his September defeat or a shot at any title in the division.
At welterweight WBO champion Terence Crawford is promoted by
Top Rank, who have a very good deal with ESPN both on TV and streaming. But the fight the world wants to see at the weight is against IBF champion Errol Spence Jnr, who is managed by Premier Boxing Champions supremo Al Haymon, and is therefore contracted to fighting on Fox and Showtime.
Price
Is Haymon going to risk angering their TV backers by letting a prized possession fight on a rival network’s channel? No chance.
In the UK, the main players are Hearn and Frank Warren, with their respective deals with Sky Sports and BT Sport. Both have shown in the past that they will allow their fighters to cross over to rival channels for the right price.
In fact, Warren-promoted Billy Joe Saunders was due to fight Andrade this weekend in Boston on DAZN in the US and on Sky Sports here in the UK.
But if BT-backed Tyson Fury beats Deontay Wilder to become WBC heavyweight champion, making a deal for him to face WBA, WBO and IBF title holder and Sky’s top asset Anthony Joshua will be very complicated.
ITV are also understood to be a possible home to Haymon-backed PBC events, with James DeGale against Chris Eubank Jnr on the verge of being announced as their debut in the UK.
Fighters getting richer is never a bad thing when they risk so much in the ring, but will fans still get the quality or will it be more about quantity?