Canelo Alvarez nearing two-fight, $85 million deal to fight Bivol, Golovkin

This would mark Canelo’s return to DAZN after a Showtime PPV last November.

Undisputed super-middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez (57-1-2, 39 KOs) is on the cusp of a short-term deal with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing for two blockbuster fights on DAZN.

ESPN’s Mike Coppinger has the details on a deal that could see the Mexican superstar make in the neighborhood of $85 million:

Canelo and Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing are closing in on a two-fight deal worth upward of $85 million for boxing’s top star to compete on DAZN, sources told ESPN. The first fight of the deal would pit Alvarez against light-heavyweight titleholder Dmitry Bivol on May 7 in a return to 175 pounds, sources said.

Golovkin (41-1-1, 36 KOs) will first meet Ryota Murata in a rescheduled 160-pound title unification in the spring in Tokyo, and like Canelo, will have to emerge victorious to keep the third fight intact.

The deal has not been agreed to nor signed yet, sources said, but negotiations are approaching the finish line.

Alvarez is also mulling a one-fight offer from Al Haymon’s PBC to defend his super-middleweight titles against Jermall Charlo (32-0, 22 KOs). The PBC deal is reportedly worth $45 million, $5 million more than the reported guarantee he received for his November 2021 win over Caleb Plant.

Golovkin, who will turn 40 in April, had a memorable and highly lucrative two-fight series with Alvarez in 2017 and 2018. Their first fight was a highly disputed draw, while the rematch saw Canelo win by majority decision. He was supposed to take on Ryota Murata in Japan last December, but COVID restrictions postponed the matchup to the spring. Murata (16-2, 13 KOs) is the WBA middleweight champ and GGG is the IBF champ, so it’s a unification and one Ryota has a legit shot at winning. Golovkin has spent his entire career at middleweight, so if he fights Canelo again it’d be a super-middleweight debut for him.

If we do get Canelo against Dmitry Bivol next, it would mark a return to 175 lbs for Alvarez after he had a one-off in the division to stop Sergey Kovalev for the WBO belt in 2019. Bivol (19-0, 11 KOs) is the WBA champion and is considered to be the 2nd best light heavyweight in the world behind Artur Beterbiev. The 31-year-old holds wins over current WBO champ Joe Smith Jr, Jean Pascal, Sullivan Barrera, and most recently Umar Salamov. He’s been looking for a big fight and this could be it. No doubt that Bivol is a very talented boxer but he’s rarely had to kick it up another gear during his title reign.

And now to save the worst for last, Boxing Scene’s Keith Idec reports that if Canelo accepts Matchroom’s deal, then his next two fights would be on a DAZN PPV that is not covered by the monthly subscription.

So much for disrupting the business of pay-per-view.