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ESPN's Dan Rafael reports via Twitter that Canelo Alvarez will have a $1.2 million purse for his Mayweather vs Cotto co-feature fight against Shane Mosley on Saturday night, while Mosley will take a pay cut down to $650,000 for the fight.
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Alvarez (39-0-1, 29 KO) is arguably the biggest Mexican star in the sport right now. Though Juan Manuel Marquez set TV viewership records in Mexico, that was for a fight with Manny Pacquiao, who is an international superstar. Canelo has done huge TV numbers against far lesser opponents like Matthew Hatton, Ryan Rhodes, and Kermit Cintron, somewhat better than the also enormous numbers generated by press rival Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.
So it's hardly any surprise that even in an undercard role, 21-year-old Canelo is making a seven-figure payday from his purse alone.
Mosley (46-7-1, 39 KO) is taking a pretty substantial cut in pay with this one, as he'll be earning under $1 million for the first time in a long time.
[ Arrival Photos: Canelo vs Mosley ]
Just counting Mosley's last five fights, he's made $1.5 million against Ricardo Mayorga, at least $1 million against Antonio Margarito (as I recall - I remember HBO had to kick in extra money to make it happen), $7 million against Floyd Mayweather Jr, $1 million against Sergio Mora, and $5 million against Manny Pacquiao.
So the $650K... well, it's a reflection of where Mosley is at. They might be hyping him like world class main eventer Shane Mosley, but they're not paying him like it and money is what talks for real in boxing. Everything else is press release material. The positive spin is that Shane's taking short money (in a way) to prove he's still relevant, and if he wins, the seven-figure paydays come back. And $650K is still pretty damn good for a PPV B-fight B-side, anyway.
Also on the undercard, Jessie Vargas will make $125,000 for his fight against late notice opponent Steve Forbes, who will make $40,000 for the fight. In the PPV's fourth televised bout, Deandre Latimore is set to earn a $55,000, with Carlos Quintana making $23,000.
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