Off the heels of a historic decision victory over Middleweight juggernaut Gennady Golovkin, Saul "Canelo" Alvarez has secured himself a $375 million contract with a mandated string of bouts, eleven in total. The Mexican prizefighter is expected to honor the eleven bout mandate in the span of 5 years. The first of eleven contracted bouts will pit Canelo against "secondary" Super Middleweight titlist Rocky Fielding in a unification of the WBA straps, on December 15th of this year.
"Canelo is the highest-paid athlete in the world. He's extremely happy," promoter Oscar De La Hoya told ESPN after Alvarez signed the dotted line. HBO, the cable provider which has overseen much of Canelo' rise in the sport of boxing, holds first dibs on the television rights for the Mexican's contest with Rocky Fielding. Although it was rumored for days, Canelo held off on signing the deal with De La Hoya and Golden Boy Promotions until 1 am Wednesday (Today), with his manager and trainer in attendance at somewhat of a formal meeting.
After besting Golovkin (and perhaps before that), Canelo is boxing preeminent Pay-Per-View draw in the modern era following Floyd Mayweather's dominant reign in the middle to lower weight classes. Canelo holds the cards for his financial future. The Mexican boxer will receive additional proceeds from every fight if he surpasses the agreed-upon PPV benchmark for sales.
