The landscape of boxing is changing before our very eyes and Canelo Alvarez is making it very clear that he is tired of taking a backseat to Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Oscar De La Hoya began Canelo’s separation from Mayweather’s shadow when he signed the deal with HBO earlier this week. Manny Pacquiao is on way out as the face of HBO Boxing and Canelo will be the new “Golden Boy” for the network. On Showtime Canelo would’ve been second fiddle for the next 2 years and possibly beyond. Al Haymon reps seem to get preferential treatment on Showtime, so who’s to say that Canelo wouldn’t have been jumped by someone else.
At HBO Canelo will be the crown jewel and Oscar will be heralded for ending the boxing “Cold War” between him and Top Rank’s Bob Arum.
De La Hoya and Canelo discussed this move a few days ago:
Oscar De La Hoya: “Canelo Alvarez gave me my marching orders, and that is fighting in May of next year and in September of next year. So, as his promoter, I have to do whatever I can to make that happen for him.”
Canelo Alvarez: “Obviously, those two dates are very important. They’re Mexican dates. I want to recoup that. I want to recuperate those dates and take them back to the Mexican people. There should always be a Mexican fighting on those dates…I’ve always wanted to fight on Cinco De Mayo and on Sept. 16.
“With me being a Mexican National, those are the dates that I’ve always celebrated and the dates that my countrymen have celebrated. So I’m excited that I can now finally fulfill my dreams of continuing that tradition that many great fighters laid out. That plan and that tradition is to fight on May 5 and in September. So I’m excited to give the fans what they want to see.”
Canelo is shy about reclaiming the two Mexican holidays, something which would’ve never been done if he had stayed at Showtime because of Mayweather’s stranglehold on those dates. At HBO Canelo has the choice to go head to head with Mayweather if he pleases.
Most of the conversation so far has circled around who will get the Cinco De Mayo and Mexican Independence Day fights but what has been neglected is the possibility of Canelo aggressively chasing Mayweather out of those slots.
There’s nothing to stop Canelo from scheduling his fights on those dates and letting the fans choose which pay-per-view to purchase. This tactic would be a blazingly arrogant move by Canelo and De La Hoya but it wouldn’t be absurd financially. I’ll take it back to when 50 Cent and Kanye West developed a huge campaign around them dropping albums on the same date. It propelled both of their sales and boosted interest for both albums. The same could happen for duelling boxing matches.
Mayweather has dominated those dates for years now but his list of adequate competitors is far shorter than Canelo’s. Amir Khan and Keith Thurman are the best case scenarios for Mayweather’s next two opponents. Canelo on the other hand can fight Miguel Cotto, a feud that reignites the Mexican-Puerto Rican boxing feud, on Cinco De Mayo and follow it up with a fight against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr on Mexican independence Day. Chavez Jr. is Mexican-boxing royalty and a fight between two Mexican fighters would do huge numbers on that weekend.
The next hurdle would be the scheduling location of competing fights. Mayweather has a strong lock on Mandalay Bay, and Las Vegas for that matter, for those weekends. A small hurdle for Golden Boy Promotions and Canelo. Canelo could boost his east coast fan base by scheduling the Cotto fight at MSG in May and returning to fight Chavez Jr. at AT&T in Dallas. Texas has a strong Mexican-American fan base and that stadium is one of the best sports venues in the world.
At the end of the day both Mayweather and Canelo can choose to move out of those dates, and I highly doubt Mayweather blinks, but boxing will benefit most from it’s two biggest stars going head to head outside of the ring.