Report: DAZN labeled Jorge Masvidal, Oscar De La Hoya and Khabib as ‘premium’ opponents for Canelo Alvarez
Boxing

Report: DAZN labeled Jorge Masvidal, Oscar De La Hoya and Khabib as ‘premium’ opponents for Canelo Alvarez

Canelo Alvarez wants to fight, but DAZN believes he needs to be matched up with premium names to be worth the $35 million he’s supposed to earn.

By Oscar Willis - 9 Sep 2020

Canelo Alvarez has filed a lawsuit against Oscar De La Hoya, Golden Boy and DAZN after efforts to get into the ring be paid the agreed fee on his contract have fallen apart.

The boxing superstar signed a mega-bucks deal with the streaming service in 2018 that was set to see him earn a $35 million a fight. While that worked out for a time, DAZN made the agreement with Alvarez and his promoters at Golden Boy with the idea Canelo would be fighting at least one ‘premium’ opponent a year.

With the coronavirus bringing sports and businesses to a halt, DAZN have now started to push the issue that Alvarez needs to be facing foes that match up the huge payday he expects. While the Mexican was linked to contests with Billy Joe Saunders and Callum Smith, DAZN felt they lacked the star power of a Gennadiy Golovkin, whom Alvarez has faced twice in the past in two huge events.

Failing that, per veteran reporter Dan Rafael, Golovkin isn’t the only premium name DAZN execs came up with — but the others are somewhat out of left field, with Jorge Masvidal, Khabib Nurmagomedov, and the now supposedly unretired Oscar De La Hoya being considered as “premium.”

While none of those fights seem plausible, it seems likely Alvarez won’t be seen inside the ropes this year.

comments