Report: What Is Going On With Canelo Alvarez And DAZN?

Canelo Alvarez and sports streaming platform DAZN aren’t exactly on good terms.

Back in October 2018, Canelo signed a massive five-year, eleven-fight deal with DAZN. The minimum was worth $365 million. All appeared to be smooth for boxing’s top star and the emerging streaming service but the honeymoon appears to be over.

Mike Coppinger of The Athletic reports that Alvarez, along with Golden Boy Promotions, and DAZN are in a “heated dispute” over a $35 million guarantee. The report notes that DAZN hasn’t been happy with Alvarez’s matchups since signing the massive deal. In particular, the movers and shakers at DAZN aren’t pleased with the lack of a trilogy fight between Canelo and Gennadiy Golovkin.

As a result, DAZN is reportedly refusing to pay Canelo the guarantee. This has left a 2020 fight in doubt. Canelo hasn’t competed since November 2, 2019. He defeated Sergey Kovalev via TKO in the 11th round to capture the WBO Light-Heavyweight title.

The timing of the dispute between Canelo and DAZN highlights the problems caused by COVID-19. Before the pandemic made its presence felt, Canelo vs. GGG III was reportedly locked up. Without a live gate, that plan went awry as having a bout of such magnitude without fans in attendance isn’t likely to happen. Still, time is money and DAZN feels the juice hasn’t been worth the squeeze.

More recently, DAZN asked Canelo to take a pay cut due to the lack of revenue in boxing events during the pandemic. Golden Boy President Eric Gomez said he did expect Canelo to take a small pay cut. Still, Team Canelo has been waiting for DAZN to uphold its end of the deal no matter what the circumstances are.

There is no doubting Canelo’s star power but if DAZN can’t get the big fights that truly bring in new subscribers, pay becomes a serious issue.