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Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez will earn $53 million for his blockbuster boxing match against Dmitry Bivol, report says

May 5, 2022, 01:54 IST
Insider
Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez.Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images
  • Saul Canelo Alvarez returns to the ring Saturday for a light heavyweight scrap against Dmitry Bivol.
  • Alvarez fights for Bivol's world championship at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
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LAS VEGAS — The world's No.1 boxer Saul "Canelo" Alvarez will earn $53 million for his Saturday boxing match against Dmitry Bivol, according to Mexican sportscaster Ricardo Celis.

Alvarez fights for Bivol's WBA light heavyweight championship.

Should "Canelo" win, it will only add to a legacy that has seen the 31-year-old relentlessly seek out title opportunities from the middleweight limit of 160-pounds, through super middleweight (168-pounds), and beyond to 175-pounds in the last four years alone.

Few combat athletes get to the level Alvarez is at — as the face of his sport, and its highest earner.

Canelo's Saturday payday is a far cry from his professional debut against Abraham Gonzalez in 2005, which took place at a small venue called Arena Chololo Larios in Tonala, in the state of Jalisco, Mexico.

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59-year-old sports anchor Ricardo Celis, a host for pay-per-view platform DAZN — which is broadcasting this weekend's event in the US — tweeted earlier this week that "Canelo" made just $40 for beating Gonzalez 17 years ago.

That's a staggering pay increase of 132,500,000%.

In the years since, Alvarez has forged a career in which he's run a gauntlet that has included some of the biggest and greatest names in the entire sport.

Though he lost to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2013, he has since defeated Miguel Cotto, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., Gennadiy Golovkin, Daniel Jacobs, Sergey Kovalev, Callum Smith, and Caleb Plant.

Matchroom Sport chairman Eddie Hearn, the promoter who organized Saturday's show at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, told Insider on Tuesday that he believes Bivol is Alvarez's toughest opponent since Mayweather.

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Victory this weekend would be only his second victory in the light heavyweight class, and it would come against one of the most skilled boxers in the division.

Bivol is unbeaten after 19 pro bouts and enters the ring this weekend having taken far less damage than the battle-worn Kovalev, the only other fighter Alvarez defeated at 175-pounds.

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