Canelo Alvarez Sues Golden Boy and DAZN for Breach of Contract

In a story first broken by Mike Coppinger of the Athletic, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez — boxing’s biggest draw and the consensus #1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world — has filed a lawsuit against the international streaming service DAZN and his promoter Golden Boy seeking $280 million in damages plus dissolution of his contracts, freeing him to sell his services to the highest bidder.

Alvarez hasn’t fought this year. In 2019, the Mexican superstar defeated Daniel Jacobs to claim three of the four meaningful pieces of the world middleweight title and then moved up two weight classes to meet Sergey Kovalev, defeating him by knockout to win a world title in a fourth weight division. For this achievement, he was named Fighter of the Year by this web site and by several other entities.

Alvarez’s deal with DAZN was formally announced on Oct. 17, 2018, at a press conference in New York at Madison Square Garden. The 11-fight deal, which was announced two weeks after HBO left boxing after 40 years, was the richest in sports history, reportedly paying Canelo $365 million over the life of the contract. Golden Boy would be the middleman, paying Canelo from the $40 million promised for each show on which he appeared.

Canelo has fought three fights for DAZN, opposing Rocky Fielding, Jacobs, and Kovalev. DAZN also signed Gennadiy Golovkin on the assumption that he and Canelo would meet sometime this year to complete their trilogy. But Canelo-GGG remains in limbo. Golovkin’s next bout will reportedly come against Poland’s obscure Kamil Szeremeta. Golovkin will be defending his IBF middleweight title. As yet there is no ironclad date for that match.

Canelo Alvarez’s next fight hasn’t been firmed-up; not even the opponent. The names that have been bandied about are Billy Joe Saunders, Callum Smith, and Avni Yildirim. All three are considered easy outs for the Mexican superstar (this reporter doesn’t consider Smith a soft touch, but that’s a story for another day).

DAZN, which is available in 11 countries and offers a range of different sports to its subscribers, is backed by Odessa-born British-American businessman Len Blavatnik, one of the world’s richest men. It’s no secret the company has been bleeding money, a victim of the global pandemic. But before the pandemic hit, the company was faulted for mismanagement. “People who know next-to-nothing about boxing are making high-level deals for DAZN,” wrote Thomas Hauser, “and the numbers aren’t adding up for them on any rational basis.”

DAZN alienated many of their U.S. subscribers when they pushed back the starting time of the Alvarez-Kovalev fight so that it wouldn’t overlap an MMA show airing in the same time slot. When the first bell sounded for Alvarez-Kovalev, it was well past midnight (1:18 a.m. to be exact) in the Eastern time zone. Even Alvarez was embarrassed. Canelo promised to use his influence to see that a flapdoodle like this never happened again.

Reporters that covered the Alvarez-Kovalev fight and arrived in Las Vegas several days before the event could see that there was tension between Canelo and Oscar De La Hoya, Golden Boy’s founder and president. Canelo barely acknowledged Oscar, even when they were sharing a dais.

Ryan Garcia, the brightest young star in the Golden Boy stable, also has issues with Oscar De La Hoya. Garcia, who hooked up with Canelo’s longtime trainer Eddy Reynoso last year, pulled out of a fight in July because he wasn’t happy with the purse. Like all boxing promoters, Golden Boy has been forced to tighten its belt because of the terrible pandemic which has stripped away gate revenue.

“I filed the lawsuit so I can get back to boxing and give my fans the show they deserve,” Canelo told Coppinger. As yet there has been no formal response from Oscar or DAZN. A quick glance at the Golden Boy Promotions web site finds this message: “Sorry, no events are scheduled at this time.”

We will follow this story as it unfolds. Check back for updates.

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