One week after Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao rewrite the record book for pay-per-view boxing, as they most certainly will May 2 in a fight expected to gross more than $400 million, the odds-on favorite to succeed them as the sport’s most bankable star will enter the ring at Minute Maid Park in Houston.
Saul “Canelo” Alvarez was the B-side to Mayweather when they tangled in 2013 in what still stands as the most lucrative fight in history, with $150 million in revenue from 2.2 million buys. After that fight, Mayweather predicted it would be Alvarez who succeeded him as the sport’s bell cow when he retired.
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Saul “Canelo” Alvarez will fight James Kirkland May 9 on HBO.
Photo by: Getty Images |
On May 9, Alvarez takes another step in that direction when he fights James Kirkland on HBO. While the fight won’t be on pay-per-view, HBO Sports President Ken Hershman said he believes it will help build enough interest to lead to pay-per-view success when his next opportunity arises.
“Undoubtedly he is taking over the mantle,” Hershman said. “He has a unique personality outside the ring. That’s one of the key elements to building a star. He has a great fighting style inside the ring. He’s willing to take on anybody. So he has all the ingredients that add up to what it takes to be a pay-per-view star. I think the future is bright.”
Alvarez came off the Mayweather fight hungry to drive his own pay-per-views. Six months after losing to Mayweather, he headlined a Showtime pay-per-view against Alfredo Angulo that generated about 350,000 buys. Four months after that, he did about 300,000 buys for a fight against Erislandy Lara.
While those pay-per-view numbers likely delivered Alvarez more money than he would have made fighting on HBO or Showtime, they did little to build his profile outside his core fan base of Mexican-Americans. And the fact that the numbers went in the wrong direction gave his handlers and promoter Golden Boy cause for concern.
In September, Alvarez returned to HBO, signing a multifight deal that anticipates a return to pay-per-view but is bolstered by at least one fight per year on the network.
“We absolutely thought that was essential,” Hershman said. “There will come a time when he is 100 percent a pay-per-view fighter, but we want to delay that as long as possible. It’s matchup dependent, but it’s also strategically important to touch a broader boxing community.
“You can chug along on pay-per-view at 300,000, and that might become 200,000 if you don’t expand your fan base. So come to HBO, have a million people watching him, and then go back to [pay-per-view] for bigger fights when warranted.”
Alvarez already has established that he can sell tickets in markets with large Mexican populations. He attracted about 40,000 fans for a fight against Austin Trout at the Alamodome in San Antonio in 2013. He was originally scheduled to fight Kirkland there on May 2, but HBO elected to move the fight to May 9 when Mayweather signed to fight Pacquiao on that date.
With the Alamodome booked for May 9, Golden Boy relocated the fight to Houston, where it sold more that 12,000 tickets during the pre-sale and is now tracking toward 40,000.
