Dubai: Mexican boxer Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez insists he ‘deserves’ every penny of the staggering $365 million (Dh1.34 billion) deal, the richest in sporting history, that he inked with sports streaming service DAZN earlier in the week.
Alvarez, 28, committed himself to a 11-fight contract with the sports-dedicated streaming service which offers affordable live and on-demand streaming of events.
Viewers can access DAZN stream service for as low as $9.99 per month as opposed to shelling out $84.95 for a high-definition pay-per-view viewing.
- Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez | Mexican boxer
“In this life, everyone deserves what they get,” Alvarez said through an interpreter on Fight Hub TV, reacting to the cash-rich deal.
“It’s incredible, I want to show people that in this world, anything is possible.
“I always wanted a real opportunity for fans to see my fights at a lower prize and thank God this platform came and I am able to do that,” he added.
“I’ve always said that when one door closes another one opens and we’re very happy with this new alliance that we’ve made with DAZN,”
The deal was brokered by former world champion Oscar De La Hoya, Alvarez’s promoter, and head of Golden Boy Promotions.
DAZN, which was only launched in the US in September, exploited the gap in the market after HBO confirmed it will be discontinuing its 45-year history of broadcasting boxing at the end of 2018.
Value of the deal Alvarez signed with DAZN
ESPN, the world’s leading sports broadcaster, reported that Alvarez’s deal with DAZN is the most financially lucrative long-term contract in history, eclipsing the 13-year $325 million deal signed by baseball’s Giancarlo Stanton in 2014
Boxing fans will not have to wait long to savour the benefits of the DAZN deal which commences with Alvarez’s upcoming fight against Britain’s Rocky Fielding on December 15 at Madison Square Garden.
DAZN’s roster also boasts another megastar in heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua.
“We have No. 1 and No.2. They’re the two most important fighters in the world,” DAZN executive chairman John Skipper was quoted saying in London’s Evening Standard. “Canelo fighting on DAZN, we believe that that will help us attract some of the other fighters, some of the other premier fighters.”
Skipper also revealed that Alvarez’s last three fights generated 3.6 million buys and nearly a quarter of a billion dollars.
“So I’ve got to find those fans,” Skipper added. “They are going to want to watch his fights and they’re going to get to buy them for a lot less expensive than they did before.”
An inspired Alvarez (50-1-2, 34 KOs) who handed unbeaten Kazakistan’s Gennady GGG Golovkin his first defeat in September, also wasted no time to call out to retired boxer Floyd Mayweather, 41, the only fighter who defeated him back in 2013.
Now, he wants the chance to prove inexperience cost him that fight. “I think in that first fight, experience beat me as I was very young,” Alvarez said.
With DAZN storming into the sporting stratosphere it seems clear that boxing fans have a lot to look forward to in the future.
