By Luke Furman

Earlier this year, light heavyweight contender Eleider Alvarez signed a very lucrative co-promotional contract with Top Rank - which spanned two years with his contests being carried by ESPN and their supporting platforms.

But a few weeks ago, Alvarez lost his WBO world title, and his undefeated record, when he was dominated over twelve rounds in a rematch with Sergey Kovalev.

The unanimous decision loss left Alvarez's future up in the air.

There will be some financial consequences, but the contract with Top Rank will continue.

Alvarez was previously set, as champion, to receive a minimum of $1 million per fight, according to Canadian sources. It  now appears his minimum will be $250,000 - plus some monetary bonuses depending on the opponent. Alvarez can reclaim the original terms of his agreement, if he captures another world title.

 "He (Alvarez) came to my office where we spent a few hours to discuss the initials plans to bring him back," said Alvarez's co-promoter, Yvon Michel of GYM, to TVA Sports. "At the same time, I told him that the Top Rank contract was continuing.

"Obviously, the numbers are changing, but he still has a two-year contract. He has six fights left. I was told that they intended to continue with Eleider, even if he had a performance that was below expectations."

Michel made some clarifications concerning this agreement.

"They had the choice between giving us a fight and then parting ways or deciding to continue the adventure. The contract continues, but with numbers that carry an important base amount, but lower than what we had before, with a bonus depending on the quality of the opponent," continued Michel.

"And if he ever becomes world champion, then the contract would come back as it was originally. The goal is to bring him back to the world championship this year."

Besides Kovalev, Top Rank also promote IBF champion Artur Beterbiev and WBC champion Oleskandr Gvodzyk.

Luke Furman covers boxing for bokser.org.