
Boxing’s biggest star returns to the ring Saturday night when Saul “Canelo” Alvarez takes on Jermell Charlo at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The bout marks the first time in boxing’s four-belt era that two male undisputed champions face off, as the 154-pound champion Charlo moves up two weight classes to chase Alvarez’s 168-pound belts.
It will be another blockbuster payday for Alvarez, who is expected to earn at least $40 million and as much as $50 million depending on pay-per-view buys. With this fight, his career earnings will surpass $550 million since turning pro in 2005, according to Sportico estimates—only Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao rank higher without adjusting for inflation. The tally includes endorsement earnings but excludes investment income. Last year, Alvarez hired Excel Sports Management to represent him in his marketing deals.
In June, Alvarez signed a three-fight deal with promoter Premier Boxing Champions (PBC), which has a long-term partnership with Showtime to air its fights. Matchroom Sport had promoted six of his seven previous fights, including his May decision over John Ryder. Alvarez’s previous partner was Golden Boy, where he signed an 11-fight, $365 million deal in 2018 to fight exclusively on DAZN. That landmark agreement was scuttled after just three fights following a falling out between Alvarez and Golden Boy that saw their relationship dissolved.
It has been a banner year for boxing overall, with a run of strong matchups putting fans in the seats and reaching for their credit cards to buy PPVs. Saturday will mark the third bout of 2023 with a $20 million gate, following Gervonta “Tank” Davis vs. Ryan Garcia in April and Errol Spence Jr. vs. Terence Crawford in July. Before this year, only five fights in Las Vegas had ever reached $20 million, including three that featured Canelo. The two other big 2023 fights pulled in nearly 2 million PPV buys combined.
“There’s more competition for attention and eyeballs than ever before,” Stephen Espinoza, Showtime Sports president, said in a phone interview. “I think the stakeholders within boxing have realized that in order for this to survive and thrive, we have to be doing the best fights possible. Anything short of that is just not going to make any noise.”
Showtime and HBO were long the homes of boxing on TV and PPV, with Fox and ESPN later getting into the game. In recent years, DAZN and Triller have staged bouts, but HBO shut down its boxing division in 2018, and the U.S. boxing market is now dominated by Showtime and ESPN. Saturday will be Showtime’s 20th boxing event of the year.
Boxing has had a surge of new fans, thanks to influencers like Jake Paul entering the sport. It has attracted a younger demographic that is sticking around to sample other fighters, per Espinoza. “We can go directly to consumers, and the boxers can build their own fan bases,” Espinoza said.
The Showtime boss won’t predict a PPV number for Saturday, saying he’s superstitious. “We do know that Canelo is one of the biggest and most reliable draws,” Espinoza said. “Our forte is making big-time pay-per-view events. The proof is in the pudding, and we’re seeing it materialize right before our eyes.”