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Story and photos by Cassandra Cousineau, LVSportsBiz.com Boxing Writer
It’s good to be king.
Saul Canelo Alvarez is the current Pay-Per-View king of boxing. And it isn’t even close. The 31-year-old from Guadalajara, Mexico, has been part of three of the top five highest grossing boxing events ever held in Las Vegas, averaging over $25 million for each date.
Two of which were at T- Mobile Arena, where the undisputed super middleweight champion defends his titles against undisputed super welterweight champion Jermell Charlo Saturday.
Canelo is so valuable to boxing that a new rumor of his promoter Premier Boxing Champions broadcast partner, Showtime Sports, sunsetting its involvement in the sport caused a bit of a stir — not just in the industry, but just up the 215 beltway in Las Vegas at the office of UFC CEO and bossman Dana White.
In a short, expletive-filled statement, White remarked, “F*** Espinoza, and it’s about time that sh**** product is off the air.”
So, when Showtime President Stephen Espinoza met with the media this week, his opening comments seemed to directly respond to White. “UFC has never done a $20 million gate in its history. We’ve done it three times…since April.”
LVSportsbiz.com asked Espinoza to confirm whether or not he was responding to White. “No, I mean look, we know who Dana is. He’s very intelligent, very witty, very classy and a real articulate representative of his company. No, I wouldn’t respond to that. I’m just stating facts,” he answered.
As for the facts of the broadcaster leaving the boxing business, Espinoza was equally as coy, “Don’t you guys get tired of this rumor? I do. I’ve been hearing it for five years. Our response is we just continue to do the same thing we’ve been doing. We got this big fight this weekend. We’ve got a couple more to announce probably the week after the fight. We respond to rumors and speculations by being the leaders in the sport. That’s what we do.”
One of the biggest weekends on the boxing calendar has been Mexican Independence Day weekend around the historical date of Sept. 16.
Nine times Canelo has been a featured fighter for such an event, and five of the last six have been hosted in Las Vegas. Not so in 2023 after White and UFC swooped in after an error on the behalf of Showtime to confirm T-Mobile Arena with the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
White is all in on Mexican Independence Day fights.
UFC says the promotion’s Noche UFC event “killed it” in a sold-out arena, “delivering over one million unique views,” its most successful Fight Night [non-PPV] of all time. Prompting the bossman White to declare, “I don’t care if somebody in town gets that date at the arena [T-Mobile], I will go in an imposing arena and go head to head with them next year. I’m doing this for the rest of my reign here.”
If that is the case, there would be just two likely locations in Las Vegas remaining as options for boxing on the same night. MGM Grand Garden Arena which has a capacity of 16,800, compared to T-Mobile’s 20,000, or Allegiant Stadium with a capacity of 65,000.
MGM Grand Garden has a long storied history in the sport. However, Allegiant has yet to host a boxing event. Currently, the only fighter on the planet with a bankable track record to christen Allegiant’s foray into boxing would be Canelo. Even then, he would need an equally marketable dance partner. Specifically, undisputed welterweight and boxing Pound-4-Pound leader, Terence Crawford.
Espinoza wouldn’t confirm whether Crawford, who has publicly expressed interest in the fight, and Canelo could be a challenge to UFC’s efforts next year. He did offer, “We’ll see, let’s circle back on that conversation somewhere around July or August 2024.”
Inevitably, Canelo will be part of that conversation.
The 33-year-old signed an 11 fight deal with DAZN in 2018 at a hefty price of $365 million. Three bouts into that deal, he sued to get out of the contract that included a guaranteed $35 million a fight, and signed with PBC as a free agent.
The undisputed super middleweight’s new deal with PBC is reported to be in excess of $100 million for three fights beginning with this title defense against Charlo. The following two fights are scheduled for May and September 2024. The dates line up, it remains to be seen if Las Vegas will be the location.
Ultimately, fighters fight, while promoters talk. When LVSportsBiz.com com asked the WBC, WBA, and IBA champion how disappointed he was not to be fighting in Vegas on his usual weekend, he made it clear, “For me, every day is Mexican Day.”
According to Ticketmaster, there are still seats available at T-Mobile Arena starting at $179 in the Hyde Lounge for seats with no view. Average prices are in the $300 range all the way up to close to $1200. The fight will also run fans $85 on PPV.
Alvarez is a -420 favorite while Charlo comes in at a +320 underdog.