One of the biggest stars in boxing right now recently forfeited his boxing contract with Golden Boy Promotions and DAZN. That boxer is Saul Canelo Alvarez. He is the type of boxer that all promoters want because he guarantees to generate big box office. He had the biggest single contract in boxing, was estimated to be about US$365 Million which spans for 5 years and 11 fights. The boxer had a dispute with his promoter Oscar De La Hoya regarding his future fights. Canelo then took the Golden Boy Promotion to court in which resulted in him being released from his contract. The problem with having contracts this long is that, if the boxer wants to fight big names and the promoter refuses, the fight won’t happen. Canelo opting out of his contract shows that the boxer wants to build a legacy and not easy fights.
✍🏻#TEAMCANELO🇲🇽 pic.twitter.com/zB2M3Esh4T
— EDDY REYNOSO (@CANELOTEAM) November 6, 2020
Canelo is coming off a win against then-champion Sergey Kovalev where he climbed 2 divisions above his natural weight class. He beat him via KO in the 11th round of the fight. He chooses to vacate the WBO light-heavyweight and move back down to the middleweight division. As of this moment, there has no official announcement regarding his next fight, but rumors are saying that the possible opponent is the undefeated IBF super middleweight, Caleb Plant. The target date is within this year, around December of 2020.
If the fight will ever happens, this fight is going to be interesting. Plant is one of the rising stars, although proven, Canelo will be his toughest fight by far. Plant’s boxing style is known to show slickness and power punching. While Canelo has proven over time, he is the number 1 pound for pound boxer right now. Canelo is known to have an iron chin, high level counterpunching, and high-level slickness. Although the odds favor Canelo would win, it won’t be a walk in the park. This fight will show if Plant is the real deal and if he wins, he gains instant stardom.
Caleb Plant is not yet the official opponent of Canelo so there are still many other possible contenders to fight. Callum Smith has shown interests in which some boxing experts expect a tough matchup for Canelo, as the range of Smith might give Canelo a tough matchup. One other fighter that has been calling out Canelo is Billy Joe Saunders. Known for his trash talk, Saunders also undefeated, has never fought real top champion contenders compared to Canelo’s resume.
Canelo leaving his contract would give DAZN a huge loss in star power. DAZN still has champion boxers like Anthony Joshua, Callum Smith, Gennady Golovkin, and many others. No other boxer in DAZN’s roster has the star power with the likes of Canelo, well maybe other than Joshua. He is known to have a huge fan base, especially in Mexico. Although they still have young prospects who could potentially be the face of boxing in the future. Ryan Garcia, Vergil Ortiz, and Devin Haney are all undefeated and has shown huge potential to be the next big thing. These young prospects have yet to show their true potential on the biggest stage of boxing.
