Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennadiy Golovkin’s trilogy fight brought in disappointing pay-per-view numbers for their bout last weekend at DAZN PPV at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
While the organizers were hoping for one million buys like the two previous Canelo vs. Golovkin fights on HBO, the third clash generated between 550,000 and 575,000, according to industry insider Dan Rafael. That means DAZN lost a lot of money on the Canelo-Golovkin III fight.
To cover the $75 million in purses for Canelo and Golovkin, DAZN needed far more than the numbers it generated to cover the expenses.
Obviously, they should have known that the boxing public has lost interest in this fight, as they want to see Canelo fight relevant fighters like David Benavidez, Dmitry Bivol, Jermall Charlo, and Artur Beterbiev.
Trotting out the 40-year-old Golovkin for Canelo for a third fight was a disaster waiting to happen, and DAZN’s executives should have known that.
Those numbers would put the Canelo-Golovkin III fight near the same level as the Canelo vs. Dmitry Bivol bout last May, which brought in over 500,000 and was considered a disappointment.
The question is, why was the boxing public disinterested in paying $85 & $65 to watch Canelo (58-2-2, 39 KO) fight the 40-year-old Golovkin? The answer is easy. Golovkin is old and has done nothing with his career since his second fight with Canelo in 2018.
GGG has essentially been in a holding pattern for four years, waiting for the big payday against Canelo in the trilogy, and staying away from risky fights against the likes of Jermall Charlo, Demetrius Andrade, David Benavidez, and Zhanibek Alimkhanuly.
“Fight No. 3…generated between 550,000 and 575,000 pay-per-view buys in the United States, multiple industry sources told Fight Freaks Unite on Tuesday,” said Dan Rafael at his Fight Freaks Unite site.
“Alvarez-Golovkin III would have to be considered a major disappointment, considering that, according to sources, DAZN needed far more buys than 600,000 to break even given the reported $75 million [purses] combined guaranteed to Alvarez and Golovkin.
“Both of those fights fell far short of the approximately 800,000 buys Alvarez generated for his 11th-round knockout of Caleb Plant to unify all four 168-pound titles,” said Rafael.
If you’re DAZN, you need to put pressure on Canelo to begin fighting the fighters that fans want to see him battle, like Benavidez, Bivol, Charlo, and Beterbiev. If Canelo refuses to fight those guys, it might not be worth keeping him.
