By Keith Idec
Canelo Alvarez has no doubt that many of the fans who helped him become part of the most profitable pay-per-view event in boxing history will buy his March 8 fight against Alfredo Angulo.
“I’m sure they will,” Alvarez said. “I have loyal fans and I’m very grateful for that. And they’re always going to be with me. And I feel that they’re going to support me through thick and thin and they’re going to follow me in this pay-per-view.”
Critics have questioned whether the four-fight show headlined by Alvarez-Angulo belongs on pay-per-view, despite that Alvarez’s loss to undefeated superstar Floyd Mayweather Jr. drew in excess of 2.2 million buys and generated a boxing-record of roughly $150 million in pay-per-view revenue. The Mayweather-Alvarez event cost $75 in HD. Showtime has not announced how much the Alvarez-Angulo show will cost, but the price will be at least $60 to watch it in HD.
The 23-year-old Alvarez (42-1-1, 30 KOs) figures to be a heavy betting favorite over the 31-year-old Angulo (22-3, 18 KOs), a fellow Mexican who has been stopped in two of his past four fights entering their 12-rounder at MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
The three 12-round bouts broadcast before Alvarez-Angulo will include Leo Santa Cruz (26-0-1, 15 KOs) versus Cristian Mijares (49-7-2, 24 KOs) for Santa Cruz’s WBC super bantamweight championship, Omar Figueroa (22-0-1, 17 KOs) versus Ricardo Alvarez (23-2-3, 14 KOs) for Figueroa’s WBC interim lightweight title and Carlos Molina (22-5-2, 6 KOs) versus Jermall Charlo (17-0, 13 KOs) for Molina’s IBF junior middleweight crown.
Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
