Boxer Saul “Canelo” Alvarez just landed one of the largest paydays in the history of sports. On Wednesday morning Canelo signed a deal with sports streaming device DAZN for 11 fights over the next five years. Canelo’s promoter Golden Boy Promotions reports the deal is worth a minimum of $365 million, which is an average of $33 million per fight.
Alvarez will begin his DAZN deal on December 25 when he takes on competitor Rocky Fielding at Madison Square Garden. After that, it is likely he will fight yet again in early May, in match taking place on Cinco de Mayo.
Forbes reports Alvarez should receive at least $120 million over the next year with his two DAZN fights, $50 million from his win over Gennady Golovkin and several million in revenue from endorsements.
With the Mexican boxer’s new deal, there is the high possibility that he will rank as the world’s highest-paid athlete next year in Forbes’ annual look at the top stars in sports. If Alvarez were to schedule a third fight will GGG, it would add even more revenue to his bank.
HBO ranks as the biggest pay-per-view star in the sport after the retirement of Floyd Mayweather and has been the former home for Canelo. However, HBO recently announced it will be ending its coverage of boxing at the end of 2018. The network set the standard for televising the sport for over four decades, while its pay-per-view featured some of boxing’s biggest stars, including Sugar Ray Leonard, Evander Holyfield, Oscar De La Hoya, Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather and several more.
“Being part of this historic deal will require me to prepare myself even more and offer fans even better performances,” Alvarez said in a release announcing the deal.
