Canelo-GGG gate third-biggest in boxing history

With 17,318 tickets sold at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, the September 16 fight between Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin recorded the third-biggest live gate in boxing history, trailing just Mayweather-Pacquiao from 2015 and Mayweather-McGregor from a few weeks before.

The gate for Canelo-GGG, which of course ended in an already infamous draw, was $27,059,850, according to the Nevada State Athletic Commission. That’s well behind the other two fights mentioned already, as Mayweather-Pacquiao drew a seemingly untouchable $72,198,500, and Mayweather-McGregor more than doubled this one at $55,414,865.

But it’s great proof that Alvarez has become a legitimate big draw, and that this matchup with Golovkin was one that the sports world, not just boxing fans, wanted to see. Canelo’s previous high gate was the old No. 3 on the list, and that was a 2013 fight where Mayweather was the main draw. That fight did a gate of $20,003,150, so this one topped that with room to spare, which is great news for Alvarez, Golovkin, and the sport in 2017.

In fact, I’d say that by putting together the second- and third-highest gates ever within a span of three weeks in the same city at the same new venue, boxing is doing pretty well right now.

A rematch between the two is currently being negotiated for May 5, 2018, with no guarantees, but a lot of hope.