Mexican boxer Alvarez grabs world record contract

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Unified middleweight world champion Canelo Alvarez and the streaming service DAZN have agreed to a five-year, 11-fight deal that will pay the boxer at least 365 million US dollars – the highest-paying athlete contract in history.

DAZN became the broadcast home of boxing in the United States after HBO announced in September that it is getting out of the fight business.

The signing of the Mexican pugilist kicks off the DAZN-boxing partnership with an exclamation point and plenty of zeroes. The mega deal will commence with his move up to super middleweight to challenge secondary world titlist Rocky Fielding on Dec. 15 at Madison Square Garden in New York.

The two met face-to-face at the kickoff news conference on Wednesday afternoon in New York.

After signing on the dotted line, Alvarez said, “We know the challenge we have in front of us and we're going to train real hard to enter the history of Mexican boxing.”

“Also I've always said that when one door closes another door opens up and we're very happy with this new alliance with the zone. Thank you very much,” the 28-year-old said.

Alvarez, a multiple-time world champion in two weight classes, has held the unified WBA (Super), WBC and Ring magazine middleweight titles since September 2018.

The Guadalajara-born boxer conveyed his greetings and gratitude, saying, “Thank you to Golden Boy. Thank you to the Zone. Thank you to my team. Thank you to my family. There are a lot of things I can't express but I'm very happy. Thank you.”