Held Onto His No 1 Contender With a Draw Boxing
Álvarez, Boxing's Undisputed King, Is a Target for Fighters and Promoters
Would-be foes and matchmakers see the 168-pound champion equally a path to a career payday.
LAS VEGAS — Saúl Álvarez'south squad had the commemorative T-shirts prepare. The fighter who goes by Canelo donned ane moments afterward he had knocked out Caleb Institute to become the undisputed supermiddleweight boxing champion.
Álvarez, 57-1-2 with 39 knockouts, besides wore a shiny golden crown on his head, while his handlers tried to beautify him with his various title belts: 1 from each of the four major sanctioning bodies; another from Ring Magazine, awarded to the publication'south meridian fighter in each weight class; and a second chugalug from the World Battle Council. Information technology took some effort, but eventually Álvarez's team institute room on the boxer's v-foot-viii frame to display all his titles.
Every bit Álvarez, 31, posed for photographs alongside his coaches, he looked similar a proud champion. The win over Constitute fabricated him the second undisputed champion currently fighting, alongside the Scottish superlightweight Josh Taylor, every bit well as the first undisputed champion in supermiddleweight history. He is also the first Mexican fighter to concord all four major titles in a weight class.
He also looked similar a target.
The profile and payday tied to an Álvarez bout brand him an appealing future opponent for serious contenders from 160 to 175 pounds, for former champions seeking one last windfall and even for nonboxers like the Ultimate Fighting Championship standout Kamaru Usman.
Battle megastars like Álvarez unremarkably fight twice a year, but he has fought 4 times since concluding December and says he will virtually likely fight again in May. He knows he has options, but says he volition non ponder them until January.
"I'll take a little residual. I deserve it," Álvarez said at a news briefing after the fight. "After that, we'll come across what happens."
Álvarez, a native of Guadalajara, Mexico, who is now based in San Diego, has four championship belts but no promoter. As a free agent, he has the leeway to make bouts beyond pro boxing'southward diverse promotional divides and the leverage to command the toll he wants. His reported guarantee for the Establish bout was $twoscore million.
From here, Álvarez could, conceivably, movement support to low-cal heavyweight, a division where he won a world title in 2019, to fight the winner between Artur Beterbiev of Russia and Marcus Browne of the United States, who will see for Beterbiev'southward titles on a Summit Rank show in Dec.
Or he could take a third fight with the middleweight champion Gennadiy Golovkin, with whom Álvarez has shared a pair of close, entertaining fights. Their showtime tour, in September 2017, concluded in a draw. Their second, a year later, was a bulk decision win for Álvarez. Those ii fights generated a combined 2.4 million pay-per-view buys, and the prospect of a trilogy motivated the streaming service DAZN to sign Golovkin.
Álvarez fought six times on DAZN, first nether his at present-terminated contract with Golden Boy Promotions and later every bit a gratuitous agent in a series of one-off bouts. He returned to Showtime's pay-per-view platform for the Plant bout, and the broadcaster hopes to leverage its ties with the Premier Boxing Champions managerial outfit to lure Álvarez dorsum. David Benavidez, a former supermiddleweight champion, fights under the P.B.C. imprint, as does Jermall Charlo, a middleweight champion open to moving up a weight class.
"We're optimistic nosotros'll be able to keep the relationship," Stephen Espinoza, president of Showtime Sports, said earlier the fight.
Álvarez's allure to promoters and broadcasters is clear. In addition to his pay-per-view numbers, he attracts ticket buyers. In May, more than 73,000 spectators filled AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, and watched him break Baton Joe Saunders's face up in a world title bout. On Saturday, a chapters crowd of 16,586 came to the MGM Grand Garden Arena to encounter him school Plant.
Those numbers as well attract interest from other fighters, who recognize that an Álvarez bout is likely to bring a career-high payout.
After dispatching Marcos Hernandez with a highlight-reel, bolo punch knockout in the co-master event, the former supermiddleweight champion Anthony Dirrell mused well-nigh becoming Álvarez's next opponent. If he cannot secure that fight, he said, he will retire.
"I'm 37 years old. If I can't fight for something, I'yard fighting for nothing," he said at a news briefing. "I'm getting too sometime for this, man."
And after winning a decision over Colby Covington to headline U.F.C. 268, Usman, a 170-pound mixed martial arts champion, talked openly about fighting Álvarez in a boxing match.
"I want to do something that scares me," Usman told reporters after his fight, referring to a match with Álvarez. "Pound-for-pound Thou.M.A., pound-for-pound boxing, that scares me. I'thou downward for those challenges. Who in the earth wouldn't want to run across that?"
ESPN'south "SportsCenter" even ran a tale-of-the-tape graphic, while anchors emphasized that Usman is taller, with a longer achieve, than the boxer.
Height and attain alone are not plenty to solve Álvarez. Sergey Kovalev, who is 6 feet, tin can attest to that reality. Álvarez knocked him out in 2019. So can six-3 Callum Smith, who lost a 12-circular decision to Álvarez terminal December. And at present, after an 11-round dismantling, so can the 6-1 Constitute, who before Sabbatum had never lost as a professional.
But the potential payday makes sense. Official payouts for U.F.C. 268 are not nevertheless public, but Usman fabricated a $500,000 guarantee for his commencement bout with Covington. That effigy most likely grew later sponsorship, operation and pay-per-view bonuses, but it did not approach Álvarez opponent coin.
Plant's reported guarantee for the Álvarez fight was $10 one thousand thousand.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/07/sports/canelo-alvarez-next-fight.html