Tapatio boxer Saul “Canelo” Alvarez’s highly anticipated bout with Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr. in September is on course to become the highest grossing fight in the history of boxing.
Alvarez, who turns 23 next week, will put his WBC and WBA world light-middleweight titles on the line against Mayweather, 13 years his senior and the world’s pound-for-pound number-one boxer, at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas on September 14.
The pair have just completed a rapturously received 11-city tour across the United States and Mexico to promote the showdown – a somewhat superfluous effort given that this promises to be the biggest fight in recent history.
The 17,000 tickets priced from around 5,000 to 26,000 pesos sold out in just 12 hours last month, guaranteeing a minimum of 18.6 million dollars (the total depends upon the number of complimentary tickets issued) and breaking the previous live-gate record of 18.4 million dollars generated by the 2007 fight between Mayweather and Mexican-American boxer Oscar de la Hoya.
That bout also set the all-time pay-per-view record of over 130 million dollars from 2.4 million subscribers, but Alvarez’s promoter, Richard Shaefer, the chief executive of de la Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions, believes the upcoming fight (priced at 64.95 dollars pay-per-view in the United States) will eclipse the previous record. Although he declined to disclose the exact figure, Schaefer recently told ESPN that Televisa bought the Mexican television rights for “four times as much as they did for de la Hoya-Mayweather Jr. That just shows you how big Canelo is in Mexico.”
Mexico – and especially Alvarez’s home town of Guadalajara – will come to a standstill on fight night, appropriately slated for Mexico’s Independence Day weekend, traditionally considered the peak time for major boxing events.
In a demonstration of the rock-star status Alvarez enjoys at home, he was greeted by 32,000 fans at a press conference in Mexico City during the promotional tour that began in New York and ended in Los Angeles. The tour was largely absent of the trash talking that characterizes many boxing rivalries, with the pair expressing mutual respect for one another.
“It’s great to be in Mexico,” Mayweather told the crowd in the capital. “I have faced a lot of great champions in my career and I can honestly say that my toughest opponents have been Mexican.”
Of his opponent, Mayweather added, “I commend Canelo. He’s a young, strong champion. I congratulate his team, but when you face Floyd Mayweather you face the best. Right now I just can’t be beat. Maybe in 20 years he’ll be the king, but not right now.”
Mayweather remains the bookmakers’ favorite to win, but Alvarez is a more natural junior middleweight and should outweigh his opponent considerably when they enter the ring. Furthermore, despite their age difference, Alvarez (42-0-1) has already racked up almost as many fights as his opponent (44-0-0).
“I began fighting when I was 15 years old and at that time I wasn’t ready to fight him,” Alvarez said in Mexico City. “Now I’m ready. I always go in with a winning mentality. I’ll prepare to win.”
The tour did not take in Guadalajara, but Alvarez did return to his home town on Monday to meet with Governor Aristoteles Sandoval. The governor wished Alvarez good luck, presented him with the state flag and praised him as an “example for the young people of Jalisco,” while he in return invited Sandoval to attend the big fight in September.