Upstart streaming service DAZN has invested $365 million over five years in Saul ?Canelo? Alvarez?s star power?both exploiting it to bring in subscribers as well as building it for possible mainstream attention?and the first step in making their investment work is to try and kill the impression many have that the boxing world is bending over backwards to keep Canelo winning (and earning).
Saturday?s ugly mismatch between Canelo and British WBA super middleweight titlist Rocky Fielding, unfortunately, had the exact opposite effect.
The Fielding challenge in New York?s Madison Square Garden, coming off Alvarez?s earnest effort against Gennady Golovkin in September, would?ve broken up a lot of the negativity attached to Canelo?s image over the last couple years (due to controversial decisions, the clenbuterol debacle, etc.) and would?ve cleared the stage for a reputation rebuild?if it had proven itself to be at least a marginally ?real? fight. But, as most knowledgeable boxing people expected, the bout was about as competitive as Dan Rafael vs. a Jr. Whopper.
Less than a minute into the contest, it was clear that DAZN was airing manslaughter and the serial critics began to dance in glee as they unpacked their ?Canelo is a protected fraud? talking points, pointing to no-hope Fielding playing the role of the ?mole? in this multimillion dollar whack-a-mole game.
And, this time, the critics weren?t wrong or unfair in dumping on Canelo.
Alvarez, DAZN, Eddie Hearn, and Golden Boy were all complicit in this wasted evening. Hell, why not blame the WBA, MSG, and your internet provider while you?re at it? There should be plenty of outrage to go around.
It?s easy to see what Saul ?Canelo? Alvarez was trying to accomplish with Saturday?s doomed-to-rout bout with the WBA ?regular? super middleweight titlist.
Not only was it a chance to add some bulk to his professional legacy by claiming a world title in a third weight class, but it was also a chance to wipe away some of the aforementioned public relations stink attached to him from a pretty ugly last two years.
A nice little highlight reel-friendly massacre, a debut in NYC, and a move up in weight to grab another divisional title would do well to stop the hemorrhaging of goodwill pouring from the 28-year-old?s professional reputation?or, at least, that?s what Team Canelo seemed to think.
What?s hard to understand, though, is how DAZN was convinced to sign off on such a cynical pants-shitter of a matchup as the debut outing for their new marquee star, one whose success as a draw may make or break the company.
This fight made Canelo look small?a big star slumming for an easy payday, like when Mike Tyson donned a Degeneration X t-shirt in the WWE and crotch-chopped for the cameras on Monday Night Raw. And it made DAZN seem like they were more about protecting their investment than creating quality content for their subscribers.
It?s doubtful anyone rushed to pull out their credit cards so they could subscribe to DAZN based on what they saw on Saturday.
Yeah, it?s only 10 bucks and if you?re talking about value for your money, DAZN is fine. 10 bucks for a month of boxing content is a good price. And boxing loyalists have been conditioned to accept that subscriptions, PPV fees, and assorted paywalls are simply part of the game.
But it?s not all about dollar and cent value when it comes to something like this. Fans want good fights and intriguing matchups. They don?t want wholesale/bulk value when it comes to boxing. A night like last Saturday leaves one with the impression that DAZN is okay with delivering crappy boxing content in bulk to its subscribers. And why should fans think this will change?especially when the ?big? fights will demand larger purses and create a smaller profit margin for the company? Under their current business model, it?s not in their best interest to make big, expensive fights when they can piece together smaller, cheaper fights with star-level names.
It seems that this whole DAZN project is built on the hope that tons of fight fans will join up and then fill the coffers with big money to make the big fights. But will DAZN make the big fights before there?s money there to cover the costs? Will they be willing to operate in the red in order to give fans the best vs. the best? What we saw on Saturday leads one to believe that maybe they?d prefer not to.
