Alvarez will earn £278m in record five-year TV deal
Saul “Canelo” Alvarez has signed the most lucrative contract for a sportsman in history – a five-year, 11-fight deal worth $365 million (£278million) with DAZN, the digital sports streaming channel.
The contract begins with Alvarez’s move up a division to supermiddleweight as challenger to Liverpudlian Rocky Fielding’s World Boxing Association “regular” world title at Madison Square Garden, New York, on Dec 15.
The deal is bigger than the 13year $325 million agreement that New York Yankees baseball hitter Giancarlo Stanton signed in 2014 with the Miami Marlins.
Alvarez, 28, turned professional aged 16 and has a record of 50 victories, two draws and one defeat – by Floyd Mayweather. He recently defeated Gennady Golovkin on points in a tight rematch in Las Vegas to become the middleweight king.
He had drawn the first fight controversially on the judges’ cards a year earlier, and courted even more controversy between the fights after being suspended for six months for two out-of-competition positive tests for the banned substance clenbuterol. The Mexican claimed it was from consuming tainted meat.
Alvarez has a huge following in his homeland and is boxing’s biggest pay-per-view star, having generated over a billion dollars in events previously on HBO and Showtime in the United States.
Boxing fans in the US will see his two fights a year on DAZN for $9.99 a month, which includes a raft of other sports coverage.
Alvarez told ESPN: “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 payper-view.
“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.
“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.”
The deal will also include Alvarez’s promoter, Golden Boy Promotions, producing 10 events a year that will stream live on DAZN.
Elsewhere, British heavyweight Dereck Chisora, who is expected to meet compatriot Dillian Whyte in a December rematch, has signed a management deal with retired former world heavyweight title holder David Haye.
The two men brawled at a news conference in Munich in 2012, on the night Chisora had unsuccessfully challenged Vitali Klitschko for the world title, later settling the matter with a bout at West Ham United’s Boleyn Ground in London six months later.