Pro boxer Canelo Alvarez just became the richest athlete in professional sports history.
The Mexican middleweight champion, 28, just signed a record-shattering contract with the video streaming service DAZN. He’ll be expected to compete in 11 fights over the next five years, all worth a whopping $365 million when it’s all said and done. (RELATED: Conor McGregor’s Legal Troubles Could Possibly Cost Him A Fortune)
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“Canelo is the highest-paid athlete in the world,” Alvarez’s promoter, Oscar De La Hoya told ESPN.
DAZN is taking a huge bet on Alvarez — the company was only just founded in September, but Canelo could skyrocket them to the center stage of boxing. His first fight is scheduled for December 15 at Madison Square Garden against Rocky Fielding — a fight that could likely sell out the whole place.
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“This is only from my hard work,” Alvarez said. “The most important thing to me was being able to give the fans the opportunity to see me fight without having to pay the $70 or $80 for my fights on pay-per-view. That was the most important thing, more important than what I am making.”
Alvarez came under fire in April after he tested positive for Clenbuterol — a banned performance enhancing substance that he claimed to have unknowingly ingested through contaminated meat in Mexico.
It doesn’t seem like that’s hurting him now, though.