Reports have suggested that Mexican superstar Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez will announce a multi-fight deal with online streaming service DAZN.
Alvarez, who captured the WBC & WBA ‘Super’ World middleweight championship titles against Gennady Golovkin last month in Las Vegas, steps up to super middleweight on December 15th when he challenges WBA ‘Regular’ World titlist Rocky Fielding at Madison Square Garden.
According to BoxingScene that the fight will be aired on DAZN, after the expiration of Alvarez’s contract with HBO – and their subsequent withdrawal from boxing – left the two-weight World champion a free agent.
Following their launch with unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua’s seventh round TKO of Alexander Povetkin on September 22nd, the addition of commercial juggernaut ‘Canelo’ – who as well as being one of boxing’s leading ‘pound-for-pound’ combatants is also arguably the sport’s biggest financial draw – is a major coup for the streaming service.
It is thought that Golden Boy Promotions, who serve as Alvarez’s promoter, will link up with DAZN on a consistent basis for future cards.
With DAZN now boasting two of the biggest attractions in world boxing in ‘Canelo’ and Joshua – as well as exclusive rights to the ‘World Boxing Super Series’ and a deal with undisputed cruiserweight king Oleksandr Usyk – the broadcast landscape has shifted dramatically in a remarkably short space of time.
Though a deal for ‘Canelo’ is yet to be finalised (with confirmation expected at a New York press conference on Wednesday) it would appear that boxing has a new broadcast force to be reckoned with…