DAZN dished out nearly half a billion in contracts to Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin over the last year with designs to create a clear path in staging a trilogy between both boxers.
However, the nascent digital global sports streaming platform missed the mark in making a fight happen during the calendar year because Alvarez had other plans for himself.
The Mexican superstar decisioned Daniel Jacobs in May, and on Nov. 2, will take on light heavyweight Sergey Kovalev. Golovkin easily walked past Steve Rolls in June, and passed a stiff test in Sergiy Derevyanchenko on Saturday, winning the IBF middleweight title that Alvarez was stripped of in August.
Joe Markowski, DAZN’s executive vice president of North America, said the plan is to make a third fight between the two rivals a reality in 2020 once and for all.
“We have clauses in our contracts where we have the big fights called out,” said Markowski. “I won’t get into specifics with any given contract. I’m confident we will deliver. We'll make that fight happen I believe in 2020… You can not distract yourself with two or three chess moves down the line. We saw what happened with Anthony Joshua.”
DAZN and company will attempt to reignite and accelerate negotiations by the end of the year, especially since Golovkin appeared to look vulnerable and age overnight against Derevyanchenko, eating more punches (230) in his close decision win than he did in either of his two bouts against Alvarez.
“We very much want it to happen. There is a willingness from all parties to get back into conversations as soon as Canelo fights Kovalev,” said Markowski.
“Canelo is obviously a key stakeholder in that conversation. He wants to make big fights. Everyone wants to see a trilogy. Canelo knows that. Golden Boy knows that. GGG knows that. Once we get through Nov. 2, we’ll be back in the board room for a May 2020 fight.”
Alvarez is the beneficiary of a 10-fight, $365-million deal with DAZN, while Golovkin has three-year, six-fight contract paying him upward of $100 million.
Markowski said he understands Alvarez’s position in calling the shots and steering his career in the direction he pleases, especially since Golden Boy head Oscar De La Hoya has stated as well that a third fight will take place after a contentious summer of negotiations yielded no results.
“From the first moment we met him, we were impressed by Canelo as a fighter and as a business partner,” he said. “He understands that with the amount of money we’ve invested in him comes a set of obligations to us. He’s always available to us from a marketing and content production perspective.
“He’s a fantastic partner and we have no issues negotiating with Canelo Alavarez. We fully respect the balls Canelo has in stepping up weight classes. He’s chasing history, and that helps us sell subscriptions.”
Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist and member of the Boxing Writers Assn. of America since 2011. He has written for the likes of the Guardian, USA Today, Philadelphia Inquirer, Men’s Health and NFL.com and currently does TV commentary for combat sports programming that airs on Fox Sports. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan or via email at manouk.akopyan@gmail.com.