Since last month, former unified middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (38-1-1, 34 KOs) has been lurking in the background as a network free agent.
Golovkin was contractually bound to HBO, but that deal expired in the aftermath of his rematch with Canelo Alvarez (50-1-2, 34 KOs), who walked away with a close twelve round majority decision win.
And then HBO announced their unexpected decision to drop boxing from their programming.
Canelo, who also had a deal with HBO and became a free agent, has officially signed on with streaming service DAZN.
Last week, Canelo announced that he signed a five year, 11 fight deal, for $365 million. The deal also gives Canelo's promoter, Golden Boy Promotions, 10 dates a year.
Canelo, who is easily the biggest pay-per-view star in boxing, is a prime target for a lot of big names out there.
British promoter Eddie Hearn, through his Matchroom USA banner, has an eight year content deal with DAZN.
Hearn has several potential opponents for Canelo - like WBO champion Demetrius Andrade and Daniel Jacobs - should he win the IBF title this coming Saturday.
As far as Golovkin, Hearn views the trilogy fight with Canelo as by far the biggest payday for GGG.
There was some discussion about the possibility of Golovkin squaring off with Ryota Murata - but that plan went up in smoke after Murata was upset in a one-sided bout on Saturday night in Las Vegas, with Rob Brant boxing his ears off to secure a twelve round unanimous decision and the WBA "regular" middleweight belt.
"Look, there are a lot of egos. Does [Golovkin] want to work with Golden Boy? Unfortunately, whatever way he looks at it, the big money fight for him is Canelo 3. And there is no other fight that even compares. People talk about Murata, well that's dead. So he has to fight Canelo. That probably pays him 5, 6, 7 times of any other fight. We'd love him at DAZN," Hearn said.
2023-10-22 02:44:30
