World Boxing Council President Mauricio Sulaiman is overjoyed by the news that Saul "Canelo" Alvarez signed a five year, 11 fight deal with streaming service DAZN.

The deal is worth a guaranteed $365 million - which Canelo's promoters are calling the richest contract in history for any athlete.

Canelo's handlers at Golden Boy Promotions, run by Oscar De La Hoya, brokered the deal with DAZN, an online streaming service that only launched in September. DAZN charges its subscribers $9.99 per month for a range of combat sports content.

 

Canelo's switch to DAZN is a direct consequence of HBO's decision to pull the plug on 45 years of broadcasting boxing earlier this month.

Canelo reviously had a deal with HBO to broadcast his fights on a pay-per-view basis. However Canelo's baseline earnings could increase sharply over the course of the deal if DAZN reaches a series of specific subscription benchmarks during the next five years.

Sulaiman has been a huge supporter of Canelo - especially after the two sides mended some broken fences after a two year fallout that spanned back to the summer of 2016.

Now with the WBC middleweight title around his waist, Sulauman is firmly in Canelo's corner and believes this deal should a call to celebrate for the boxing world.

"We`re living a new era in every sense. It`s a new distribution platform and the fact that a Mexican is having a major presence in front of the whole world must be celebrated," Sulaiman told The Record.

"It seems to me that we are in a digital age and have to understand it better, because this is the reality of things. We all live with our phone in hand, and that makes it important to have a digital channel. In the US, HBO has just withdrawn from boxing, but hopefully DAZN will keep showcasing and supporting the sport.

"We congratulate Canelo and boxing. It's something that in every way should be a source of great pride, because he's Mexican and a boxer. It's also a cause for celebration because this is historic."