Boxer Saul ?Canelo? Alvarez scored one of the biggest paydays in the history of sports in the wee hours Wednesday morning when he signed a deal with sports streaming service DAZN for 11 fights over the next five years. The deal is worth a minimum of $365 million, an average of $33 million per fight, according to his promoter Golden Boy Promotions.
Alvarez will kick off his DAZN deal December 15 at Madison Square Garden against Rocky Fielding, and then likely fight again in early May for a Cinco de Mayo match. The two DAZN fights, plus roughly $50 million for his razor-thin win over Gennady Golovkin last month, along with several million dollars from endorsements and Alvarez should bank at least $120 million over the 12 months.
The Mexican boxer has a strong, fighting chance to rank as the world?s highest-paid athlete next year in Forbes? annual look at the top stars in sports. A third fight with GGG in May would goose his earnings even more.
HBO was the former home for Alvarez, who ranks as the biggest pay-per-view star in the sport after the retirement of Floyd Mayweather. But HBO announced last month that it would end its coverage of boxing at the end of 2018. The premium cable network had set the standard televising the sport for more than four decades, and its pay-per-view arm featured many of the biggest stars in the sport, including Sugar Ray Leonard, Evander Holyfield, Oscar De La Hoya, Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather and dozens more.
Alvarez?s deal with HBO ended after his win over GGG. The boxing world has been buzzing over the Canelo?s next landing spot with Showtime, ESPN and Turner all viewed as contenders.
DAZN just launched in the U.S. last month and is making a major push in combat sports. It signed an eight-year, $1 billion deal in May with Eddie Hearn?s Matchroom Boxing, home of heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua. Former ESPN President John Skipper was named executive chairman of Perform Group, DAZN?s parent company, in May.
The Alvarez deal tops the 13-year, $325 million contract for New York Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton. Global soccer icons Neymar and Lionel Messi both have deals worth roughly $350 million, with Neymar?s a five-year contract and Messi?s haul spread over four years.
Messi will likely be Alvarez?s biggest competition for the title of world?s highest-paid athlete. He ranked second this year at $111 million, behind only Floyd Mayweather. Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, LeBron James, Aaron Rogers and Roger Federer are each also expected to earn at least $90 million between June 2018 and June 2019.
