Canelo Alvarez Signs $365 Million DAZN Deal After HBO Boxing Departure: Report

The biggest draw in boxing in Canelo Alvarez could be featuring on DAZN next as the streaming service has reportedly finalized a deal with the middleweight champion.

Alvarez won the World Boxing Association (WBA) and World Boxing Council middleweight titles after controversially defeating Gennady Golovkin in their rematch last month in an HBO pay-per-view that reportedly drew 1.1 million buys.

Later that month, HBO announced they would be dropping their coverage of boxing leaving the likes of Alvarez, Golovkin and others without a broadcast home.

Networks such as Showtime, ESPN, Fox and DAZN were all expected to go after Alvarez in particular, as following Floyd Mayweather's retirement last year, the Mexican is the current biggest draw in the sport, at least in the United States.

But according to Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports, it is DAZN closing in on a long-term deal with the star.

The terms were initially not known but Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times later reported it is the "richest deal" in sports history with Alvarez earning a guaranteed $365 million from a 10-fight deal. It is expected to be formally announced on Wednesday.

ESPN on the other hand, report it as an 11-fight deal and got Alvarez's immediate reaction to the news.

"This is only from my hard work," Alvarez told ESPN. "The most important thing to me was being able to give the fans the opportunity to see me fight without having to pay the $70 or $80 for my fights on pay-per-view. That was the most important thing, more important than what I am making."

"It's very important for me to give the fans the biggest fights and the most important fights, and I promise you I will always do that. The December fight with Fielding is a dangerous fight. I am moving up in weight, and I don't know how my body will feel. But I always want to take on challenges, and I am very happy my fans will be able to see me fight for a small cost," he said.

According to Iole, Alvarez's promoter, Golden Boy CEO Oscar De La Hoya, reached a deal with John Skipper, executive chairman of the Perform Group who own DAZN.

The subscription-based streaming service at $9.99 per month, looking to become the Netflix of sports, signed a record-breaking deal with Eddie Hearn's Matchroom Boxing earlier this year, with their first-ever broadcast in the United States being unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua's successful title defense against Alexander Povetkin last month.

Alvarez joining is a huge boost for the service, with them already boasting Matchroom's crown jewel Joshua while the British promotion also recently added unified cruiserweight champion Oleksandr Usyk to their ranks.

Hearn also revealed earlier this month that he hoped to get at least one of Alvarez, Golovkin or Manny Pacquiao on the platform.

“I know Tom Loeffler [Golovkin's promoter] very well, we’ve done fights together. I’ve told him about our interest and our desire to get Gennady Golovkin on our platform," Hearn said, as quoted on Boxing Scene. “We’ve had chats with Manny Pacquiao. I don’t think we’re going to get all three. But I’m confident we’ll get one of the three."

"Like I said, we’ve got extremely deep pockets, but it doesn’t mean we just go in and waste money, over-pay, because it could affect our business."

Alvarez's next fight will take place for the WBA super middleweight title as he challenges champion Rocky Fielding on Dec. 15 at Madison Square Garden, New York.

No broadcast is announced for that fight as of yet, but it could be the first Alvarez bout on DAZN. Iole adds HBO could also serve as the broadcast network as while they have dropped their coverage, they are still open to one-off events and have a good relationship with Alvarez.