Canelo Alvarez Sues DAZN, Golden Boy and Co. – What Next?

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By Marc “Kid Huevos” Livitz

Sometime on Tuesday afternoon, boxing megastar Saul “Canelo” Alvarez landed perhaps the biggest punch of his fifteen year, fifty-six bout professional career. This wasn’t the type of knockout shot that leveled such names as Carlos Baldomir, Alfredo Angulo, James Kirkland, Amir Khan or most recently, Sergey Kovalev. By contrast, a courtroom instead of a ring may very well be the next place we see the redheaded champion from Guadalajara, Jalisco, as he’s chosen to take aim at his promotional partners, most notably Golden Boy Promotions and DAZN. Perhaps Oscar De La Hoya knew what he was doing when he announced his intentions last month to return to the ring at age 47. When we were first introduced to the England-based streaming sports platform DAZN sometime in 2018, some of us, including myself were initially delighted that we’d perhaps finally get round-the-clock programming which showcased actual sports. To be a bit clearer, the game of poker is not a sport and watching other people play video games falls short as well.

The brains at DAZN further indicated that Canelo Alvarez would be its first major signing and that he’d put pen to paper for an 11-fight, $365 million agreement. At just $9.99 per month, they said, the days of expensive pay TV fight nights would be left to history. Lost on some was the fact that once sales tax was considered with the monthly fee, we would basically pay somewhere near what two Canelo bouts would cost in the first place given that he fights but twice a year. For whatever reason, many in the United States still think that Cinco de Mayo is Mexican Independence Day, yet the fact remains that over the past two decades, the weekend closest to it changed hands from Oscar De La Hoya to Floyd Mayweather, JR. and then ultimately to Canelo Alvarez. The “twice a year” template would remain, which would include the weekends closest to the aforementioned Cinco de Mayo as well as the real Mexican Independence Day, September 16 (Diez y seis de Septiembre). By and large, Canelo’s stayed true to the pattern and so far, the four-division champion has fought three bouts of the eleven for which he’s contracted with DAZN.

This past Tuesday, Alvarez, 53-1-2, 36 KO’s, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Central California, one in which he’s seeking $280 million in damages. The allegations against DAZN basically revolve around their desire to seemingly pay less than the $35-$40 million per fight the Mexican superstar had been guaranteed, while the knock against Golden Boy, it appears is that the Los Angeles-based promotional giant hasn’t fulfilled their obligation to find a suitable opponent. In response to the lawsuit, a spokesperson from Golden Boy basically said that it was DAZN who didn’t approve of the roster of possible opponents presented to them, thereby denying their coveted icon of the sport the bags of cash he’s owed. It’s actually been a bit interesting to see Canelo’s journey thus far with DAZN and how the streaming service has adjusted to its roster to talent, which now includes his biggest rival, Gennady “GGG” Golovkin. His first fight with DAZN took place on December 15, 2018, which was a one-sided, poorly matched, three-round drubbing of Rocky Fielding in Madison Square Garden.

Alas, this would be Canelo’s first attempt at moving up to super middleweight and waiting in the wings was Fielding, who happened to be the holder of the WBA world title. Some of us hoped he’d stick around at 168 pounds and fight Callum Smith, but that didn’t happen. He chose to return to middleweight for the second fight of his DAZN contract and to be fair, fought one of the best talents in the sport in Danny Jacobs in May of 2019. The unanimous decision victory earned him three middleweight championship belts, after which he decided to jump up fifteen pounds to the north for a shot at light heavyweight glory.

November 2, 2019 was the last time we saw him in the ring, which was a well-fought, tactical and eventually, stoppage of WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev. Up until sometime late in round eleven at the MGM Grand, I thought Kovalev had done exceptionally well, all things considered and that in order to upset the apple cart, he had to win not only on the scorecards of the judges at ringside. The Russian who was once among the most feared in all of boxing had to beat the city of Las Vegas, the multitudes of sponsors and all of the licensing and promotional stalwarts of the game. He was the more active fighter, but it wasn’t to be. A quick combination of a left, then a right hook put Kovalev out without a need for a ten count. Sometime after this, DAZN decided to increase its monthly fee for new subscribers from $9.99 to $19.99 per month, which was enough for me to say, “adios”.

Now that we’re in the midst of a worldwide tailspin heaved upon us by a pandemic that will tragically, yet likely claim one million lives, if we don’t see the absolute best in the sport in the ring, then that’s just fine. How important is it at this time, really? Canelo’s fought his share of opponents where one would have to bet thousands just to win one hundred dollars in return, so maybe, just maybe kudos of sorts are due to DAZN for saying that an eight-figure payout for one night of work had better be for besting someone above the grade of say, Rocky Fielding. Notice that the terms “tomato can” or “bum” aren’t used. If you haven’t done it, so to say, then you don’t know. Last month, the World Boxing Council (WBC) ordered a super middleweight championship showdown between Canelo Alvarez and Anvi Yildirim, so if you have to read that twice or are perhaps lost in space over the identity and credentials of the opponent, then DAZN may actually have a point.

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