Canelo Alvarez Signing Long-Term Deal with HBO Boxing:
A press conference is being held later this afternoon to announce that Canelo Alvarez is moving to HBO, and signing a long-term deal with the network. It’s an important development for several reasons, and hopefully it means big things to come for fight fans. We’ll have to wait and see how it plays out, and what everyone says in today’s press conference. In the meantime, here are a few thoughts.
See the official announcement & quotes here.
Canelo’s Next Fight & Future Opponents:
Canelo’s move to HBO opens the door for several of the potentially best and most intriguing fights in the sport. Most notably, that includes Miguel Cotto vs. Canelo Alvarez for the middleweight championship, as well as Canelo vs. Gennady Golovkin. Both Cotto and Golovkin have been calling HBO home. How about a round-robin between the three? Don’t forget, Sergio Martinez has decided to continue fighting, so he could still be available for fights against the likes of Canelo or Golovkin now.
Golden Boy and Top Rank:
This may signal one of the major moments in the end of the ridiculous boxing “cold war” between Top Rank and Golden Boy. The sides had been divvied up — Golden Boy teamed with Showtime, and Top Rank teamed with HBO. Now, Golden Boy and Top Rank will be able to work together on HBO Boxing, including on potentially marquee cards including some of those aforementioned fighters.
Golden Boy Creating Distance from Al Haymon:
Another important aspect of this deal is that Golden Boy Promotions and Oscar De La Hoya are creating distance between themselves, and Al Haymon. Haymon’s fighters are largely tied to Showtime, and as mentioned, Golden Boy had also been exclusively with that network for several years. However, in the wake of Richard Schaefer’s departure, Golden Boy has been left scrambling to secure their place in the sport.
By moving their biggest star attraction to HBO, Canelo is basically off-limits to all Haymon fighters. With Golden Boy and HBO doing business once again, more Golden Boy fighters will be on the network, and more Golden Boy and Top Rank clashes can happen. Less reliance on Haymon, his fighters and Showtime allows Golden Boy to move ahead on its own.
This also signals Golden Boy preparing for the end of Floyd Mayweather’s career. Mayweather has two more fights on his six-fight Showtime deal, and that contract was really at the forefront of Golden Boy’s partnership with Showtime to begin with. Mayweather, of course, is also a Haymon fighter. Once Mayweather and his mega-events are dried up, Golden Boy would have been at a much worse place if they didn’t make a proactive move.
Correspondingly, HBO now will be in position to reign supreme over rival Showtime. The biggest non-Mayweather names are all now linked with the network, and Canelo remains the sport’s star of the future.
More details will be coming later this afternoon, so be sure to check back with us then.
