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Canelo Alvarez, America’s biggest boxing star, has officially signed a 5-year, 11-fight deal with DAZN worth a minimum of $365M, according to ESPN. The signing is huge for the sports streaming service which just recently launched in the United States while void of any major stars this side of the Atlantic. That is certainly no longer the case, and with the signing Canelo has inked the richest deal in sports history by a considerable margin.
“Canelo is the highest-paid athlete in the world. He’s extremely happy,” De La Hoya told ESPN after Alvarez signed.
HBO maintained the right to match Canelo’s offer with a ‘last look’ provision, but with HBO recently announcing they were leaving the boxing business there was no way they were going to pony up anywhere near that kind of money to keep him in the fold. So Alvarez and DAZN officially signed their deal after 1 a.m. this morning.
Canelo’s pairing with DAZN will begin with his upcoming fight against Rocky Fielding on Dec. 15, which will take place at Madison Square Garden in New York. The two are scheduled to kick off their official press run today.
The Mexican star will no longer be appearing on PPV, which is probably good news to most, but it certainly wont hurt his bank account. Alvarez will be able to earn more then his guaranteed minimum based on subscription benchmarks for the platform.
And while Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn (who effectively serves as the brand ambassador for DAZN in the U.S.), mentioned that he would be trying to sign Canelo to the DAZN, it turns out the deal was actually done through John Skipper, the executive chairman of Perform Group, DAZN’s parent company.
Said Skipper: “We are thrilled to be exclusive partners with Golden Boy Promotions and Oscar De La Hoya. 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.”
With the signing DAZN is now the home to the two biggest attractions in boxing, Canelo and Anthony Joshua, which probably couldn’t be any better for the new entrant in the U.S. market.