De La Hoya says Golden Boy will no longer do PPV fights

Boxingnews24.com

By Dan Ambrose: Saul Canelo Alvarez’s promoter Oscar De La Hoya at Golden Boy Promotions is saying that they are not going to be out of the pay-per-view business completely given they’re new deal with DAZN. De La Hoya says they are done with putting on PPV fights now that they’ve signed on with DAZN for them to stream their Golden Boy fights including their biggest star Canelo Alvarez.

What this means for the average boxing fan is they will no longer need to pay $70 to $80+ to watch Golden Boy star Canelo Alvarez to fight. Instead, the fans will get to see Canelo, as well as Golden Boy’s other exciting fighters complete for just a low $10 per month subscription price with DAZN. It’s difficult to imagine only having to pay $10 per month to watch fighters like Canelo, Anthony Joshua, Ryan Garcia, Jorge Linares, Artur Beterbiev, Dillian Whyte and Jarrell Miller.

“I think the most important part of the equation is this is thinking about the fans,” De La Hoya said to Fighthub. “When you have to fork over $100 to see a Mayweather-McGregor farce or if you have to watch a Mayweather-Pacquiao dance off or ballet dance or whatever you want to call it. Enough is enough, you know. Why do you have to watch Canelo against Chavez Jr. for whatever amount of dollars. All the pay-per-views add up. Enter DAZN. DAZN now, as our partners at Golden Boy, is changing the sport, is changing the game,” De La Hoya.

As long as DAZN lasts and it brings in the kind of money that keeps the fighters at Golden Boy Promotions and Matchroom Boxing USA happy, then this is a good thing for the fans and the fighters. But if this streaming service proves to be not profitable enough for it to be sustainable, Golden Boy may end up back in the PPV business on one of the networks like Showtime.

“You will now be able to watch a Canelo Alvarez fighting the best as always or a Anthony Joshua or any other Golden Boy fighter or any other fighter who wants to join forces with us on DAZN for $9 total,” De La Hoya said. “So it’s a game changer. I think it’s a very lucrative deal for Canelo, which places him as the highest paid athlete in the sport.. It puts Golden Boy Promotions in the position now where we can go out and sign any fighter we want who is not under contract with any promoter. So it’s game on. If it means making the best fights out there and they’re not with DAZN, that’s what we’re all about. I want to make the best fights, that’s it,” De La Hoya said.

A lot of boxing fans only pay to see Canelo Alvarez fight twice a year, which sets them back around $140 a year. Those fans won’t see a huge amount of savings considering that they only purchase two PPV fights per year. However, it’s a great benefit for the fans to be able to see a lot of great fight cards by Golden Boy and Matchroom throughout the year. DAZN will be streaming more than just Canelo and Joshua fights.

“Obviously, it’s going to help if you’re signed with Golden Boy Promotions or if you just want to come on board with DAZN,” De La Hoya said. “I’ll tell you one thing, DAZN has deep pockets. Let me tell you. We’re done with pay-per-views completely. We’re not going to charge a premium for Canelo’s fights or for Anthony Joshua’s fights. It’s nine dollars. You subscribe to DAZN and you watch. DAZN will be able to stream 100 fights from all around the world. The best fighters for that matter. The best part of the deal is we’re going to be able to collaborate with Matchroom Boxing,” De La Hoya said.

De La Hoya seems to be extremely excited about working with Matchroom. This is a situation that might help Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn more than it will Golden Boy though, because he wants to match his two middleweights Demetrius Andrade and Daniel Jacobs against Canelo Alvarez. Hearn’s fighter WBA super middleweight champion Rocky Fielding is facing Canelo on December 15. De La Hoya mentioned wanting to schedule a fight between WBA ‘Super’ World super middleweight champion Callum Smith against Canelo in 2019. Smith, 28, is another one of Hearn’s fighters. If things work out the way Hearn is hoping, Canelo could end up facing as many as six of his Matchroom fighters in the next two years. Hearn is very interested in signing interim World Boxing Council middleweight champion Jermall Charlo as well. That’s another name that De La Hoya mentioned as someone he’d like to match Canelo against next year.

As long as the fighters need to go through Golden Boy or Matchroom in order for them to have their fights streamed on DAZN, those two promotional companies will be fine. But if DAZN starts signing fighters that are going straight to them rather than using Golden Boy and Matchroom as the go between, then you can see that it won’t help those promoters.