Canelo Alvarez Splits With Golden Boy and DAZN and Moves On to Caleb Plant

Golden Boy Promotions, the company founded by Oscar De La Hoya, brought Saul “Canelo” Alvarez into the fold in January of 2010. At the time, Alvarez was only 19 years old and a total unknown outside the Spanish-speaking world. But the Guadalajara redhead, who has an Irish strain in his family tree, was the hottest young sports personality in Mexico. When it became known that he was dating TV reporter Marisol Gonzalez, a former Miss Universe contestant who was seven years older than he, his face was all over the tabloids.

In September of 2015, as he was preparing to fight Miguel Cotto, Canelo re-upped with Golden Boy. “I am loyal; it’s part of my character,” he told reporters while adding that he couldn’t envision working with any other entity.

That was five years ago and things have changed. Canelo sued Golden Boy Promotions and their live-streaming partner DAZN in September, seeking $280 million for breach of contract. This past week, Canelo dropped the suit in return for becoming a free agent.

Canelo last fought in November of last year when he moved up two weight classes to challenge WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev. He de-throned Kovalev via an 11^th-round TKO, but forfeited the belt rather than challenge the WBO rule that prohibits its champions from holding the titles of other sanctioning organizations in different weight classes.

Prior to the Kovalev fight, reporters could see that the relationship between Canelo and Oscar De La Hoya was tattered. The two barely acknowledged each other at the pre-fight events, even when sharing a dais.

Canelo vs. Kovalev was Canelo’s third under the DAZN banner with whom he signed an 11-fight deal in October of 2018. The deal would pay him $365 million over the life of the contract. Each fight excluding the lid-lifter with overmatched Rocky Fielding would bring $40 million into the Golden Boy coffers. Of this, Golden Boy would keep $5 million after paying Canelo his fee.

The contract, it was noted, did not obligate Alvarez to fight any specific opponent, a great oversight on the part of DAZN’s brain trust. DAZN subsequently signed Gennadiy Golovkin under the mistaken impression that both thirsted to bring closure to their rivalry in a trilogy fight. Canelo-Golovkin III, if brought to fruition within a reasonable time frame, would certainly bring hordes of new subscribers into the DAZN community.

Although Canelo’s departure is a big blow to Golden Boy, the company reacted diplomatically. In a formal statement released through Mike Coppinger of The Athletic, GBC said:

“The lawsuit was resolved to everyone’s satisfaction, and we wish Canelo the best moving forward.

In a strong partnership with DAZN, we will continue showcasing our wide array of talent, including rising superstars like Ryan Garcia, Jaime Munguia, and Vergil Ortiz, all of whom have the talent and potential to become the next biggest star in our sport.”

Before the rift was resolved, there were murmurs that Team Canelo was plotting a fight with Caleb Plant. The 28-year-old Plant, a Tennessee native who now lives and trains in Las Vegas, is 20-0 (12) and holds the IBF 168-pound belt.

That fight hasn’t been formally announced, but BoxRec says it’s a go, so one can fairly assume it’s a done deal. BoxRec, the sport’s foremost record-keeper, isn’t in the habit of including a forthcoming fight in their listings unless all the i’s have been dotted and all the t’s have been crossed.

Caleb Plant is a PBC fighter, inked to Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions. Canelo vs. Plant, pegged for Dec. 19 at an as-yet undetermined location, will presumably be a “one-off” deal for Canelo with Haymon’s organization. It will be a pay-per-view event; there’s little doubt about that. At stake will be Plant’s IBF belt and the WBA 168-pound world title. Callum Smith also holds the WBA super middleweight title and Fedor Chudinov holds a secondary version of it (don’t ask).

Holding a big fight so close to Christmas flouts conventional wisdom and the risk of this fight failing to meet revenue expectations would seem to be especially high in this particular year when so many folks have less discretionary income at their disposal as a result of the pandemic. But no one in boxing has a bigger fan base than Canelo and for his most ardent fans, his absence from the ring has likely made the heart grow fonder.

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