When Golden Boy went nutso with the press release button last October, sharing specifics about their Canelo Alvarez DAZN deal with every rinky-dink boxing website with a gmail address, they were setting their fighter up for a rough time.
Sure, the Oscar De La Hoya-led promotional outfit may have earned some ?we?re still big shots in the business? buzz by screaming their financials to the world?and that?s especially important considering that just about four years ago De La Hoya was bamboozled by former partner Richard Schaefer, who funneled almost all of Golden Boy?s big-name non-Canelo fighters to Al Haymon?s Premier Boxing Champions.
But, for Alvarez, Golden Boy?s crowing is turning out to be a pain in the red-fuzzed behind.
Now that everyone knows Canelo is due a sweet $35 million per outing, fans and media expect big fights. He got a $15 million gimme signing bonus fight against Rocky Fielding in his first bout with DAZN last December. Then, this past May, he fought Daniel Jacobs in a good matchup that turned out to be a safety-first stinker. But even if it had not looked like a ?don?t hit me too hard and I won?t hit you too hard? public sparring session, Alvarez-Jacobs was hardly the kind of ?big? fight fans were promised if they surrendered their credit card number for Canelo access.
Canelo-Golovkin 3, however, IS that kind of big fight. Except, by all accounts, Canelo doesn?t want it and Golovkin doesn?t want it in Vegas.
Canelo-Sergey Kovalev MAY have been a big $35 million-worthy fight, except, it?s dead now because the light heavyweight titlist failed to get the kind of sweet 8-figure payday Daniel Jacobs got for fighting Canelo.
The Mexican star then moved on to IBF mandatory challenger Sergiy Derevyanchenko because the IBF just wouldn?t shut the fuck up about Canelo fighting him and because Canelo apparently wanted to keep that IBF middleweight belt.
DAZN previously nixed the Derevyanchenko challenge because, well, who the hell is going to pay to see Canelo beat the guy who got beat by the guy he just beat? (Derevyanchenko lost to Daniel Jacobs via split decision last October)
After some behind-the scenes back-and-forth, DAZN came around to greenlighting Canelo-Derevyanchenko, provided Canelo take a smaller payday than his $35 million contract price. A firm Canelo pledge to face Golovkin next, which was previously tied to DAZN accepting Derevyanchenko as an opponent, was then taken off the table as a concession from the streaming service.
All of the above, mind you, is ?reportedly?reportedly?reportedly,? based on reports from media-types with ?sources.?
Then, just as this article was being submitted for publication, news broke that Canelo and Derevyanchenko could not come to terms on money and that the fight was off. The IBF would be stripping Canelo, and the New Jersey-based sanctioning body would be looking to put together a Derevyanchenko-Golovkin bout for the vacant IBF middleweight title.
As I wrote back in early July when I speculated that such a scenario would take place:
?Gennady Golovkin, who was stripped of his IBF middleweight June of last year for not fighting mandatory challenger Sergiy Derevyanchenko, might now be facing Derevyanchenko for the belt vacated by Saul Alvarez, who refused to fight mandatory challenger Derevyanchenko.?
It?s a screwy turn of events, but not all that odd considering Canelo?s new reality of being a fighter paid a shit-ton by a company throwing cash around like a divorcee at a Tijuana strip club and, specifically, willing to seriously overpay Canelo opponents.
Canelo is now reportedly in ?serious? talks with WBO middleweight titlist Demetrius Andrade for a unification bout on October 19 or 26 and DAZN better be ready to pony up Daniel Jacobs money or watch another potential fight curl up and die.
But, of course, Andrade is an Eddie Hearn/Matchroom fighter negotiating with Eddie Hearn?s DAZN bossmen?something which seems borderline illegal, or at least unethical, at quick glance?and he just may get the Jacobs-type payout.
The next Canelo opponent, though, will also want that payout, then the next after that. Any fighter with a manager worth a damn will be negotiating with leverage, knowing that DAZN, with every Canelo appearance, needs a fight ?worth? the blockbuster money involved and also knowing that DAZN has been willing to add a pile of opponent money to the Canelo pile in order to try and do that.
And that takes us full circle, back to the opening of this piece. Big money brings big expectations?from fans who demand the PPV-level fights at bargain prices they were promised and from Canelo opponents who expect to be crazy-overpaid for a fall guy gig.
All of this has to be frustrating for Canelo as an essentially self-employed fighter for most of his career who is now having to play politics like never before?but at least he?s getting super rich from the deal.
For DAZN, though, these ?mo money, mo problems? entanglements around their most crucial investment have to be about as pleasant as a Canelo liver shot.
