Notebook: It's Showtime, not Fox Sports, for Canelo-Plant pay-per-view, per source
Pacquiao makes presidential run official; Quick hits
When the Canelo Alvarez-Caleb Plant fight for the undisputed super middleweight championship was made last month, it meant Alvarez would, for at least one fight, leave streaming service DAZN and return to traditional pay-per-view.
Alvarez, who holds three of the major titles, has had his previous six fights on DAZN, but in making a deal to go to Premier Boxing Champions for the fight he so badly wanted against IBF titleholder Plant in an effort to become the first-ever undisputed 168-pound champion in either the three- or four-belt era, it meant playing ball with PBC chief Al Haymon and doing the Nov. 6 fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas with one of his broadcast partners, Fox or Showtime.
Most expected the pay-per-view to be produced, distributed and marketed by Fox, which has done most of PBC’s biggest pay-per-views, including Manny Pacquiao’s last two fights, the Tyson Fury-Deontay Wilder heavyweight title rematch and next month’s third fight (both in conjunction with Fury broadcaster ESPN) as well as Errol Spence Jr.’s recent fights, among others.
Even Plant expected the fight to be handled by Fox, the network on which he has been boxing since 2018. At the Pacquiao-Yordenis Ugas fight in Las Vegas on Aug. 21, Plant met with a handful of media during the undercard to discuss the Alvarez fight and said he was happy “we were able to bring it to Fox.”
But, in a mild surprise, it will be Showtime that will handle the Alvarez-Plant pay-per-view, a Showtime source told Fight Freaks Unite on Sunday.
Showtime’s role in the event is expected to be announced on Monday, but certainly will be by Tuesday at the latest, the source said. Alvarez (56-1-2, 38 KOs) and Plant (21-0, 12 KOs) are scheduled to attend the kick off news conference for the fight on Tuesday afternoon at a Beverly Hills, California, hotel.
It is not clear if the fact that PBC is nearing the end of its Fox contract (although the network has an option for another year) was part of the decision-making process. There has been no announcement from Fox or PBC either way about whether Fox has or will pick up the option.
Alvarez has not had a traditional pay-per-view fight since his majority decision victory over Gennadiy Golovkin in their contentious middleweight championship rematch in September 2018. After that fight, Alvarez broadcaster HBO exited boxing and he signed a landmark five-year, 11-fight, $365 million deal with DAZN, then an all-time athlete record contract, in late 2018.
Alvarez wound up having three bouts under the agreement and then sued promoter Golden Boy and DAZN for breach of contract. He ultimately reached a settlement to end both contracts, but did a one-fight deal and then a two-fight deal with Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn and DAZN that took him through his May unification victory over Billy Joe Saunders.
Alvarez purposely sought only short-term deals in order to remain flexible, so he could work with any broadcaster or promoter to secure the biggest and best fights.
So, now Alvarez will return to Showtime for at least one fight. It’s a network he is familiar with and has worked with in the past. His DAZN deal followed an HBO deal, which followed a series of fights with Showtime. Given that Showtime’s parent company is ViacomCBS, it would seem likely CBS will help market the pay-per-view during its sports programming the way Fox normally does with the PBC pay-per-views it is involved with.
Alvarez has had five previous bouts with Showtime from 2012 to 2014. He fought live on Showtime in wins over Josesito Lopez and Austin Trout. Then he moved to Showtime PPV for three fights in a row, where he debuted in a massive event against Floyd Mayweather (2.2 million pay-per-view buys), Alvarez’s lone defeat, followed by fights with Alfredo Angulo and Erislandy Lara.
After that, Golden Boy Promotions returned to HBO and Alvarez was part of that move. He had six of his next seven fights on HBO PPV and one live HBO bout (against James Kirkland) from 2015 to 2018.
Pacquiao for president?
Manny Pacquiao on Sunday made the announcement most around him expected he would eventually make — that he will run for president of the Philippines, where he currently serves as a senator.
Pacquiao accepted the nomination of his PFP-Laban party during its national convention, where he said he would run on the same agenda of anti-poverty and anti-corruption he has pursued as a senator.
“We need progress. We need to win against poverty. We need government to serve our people with integrity, compassion and transparency,” Pacquiao said. “The time is now. I am ready to rise to the challenge of leadership.”
The announcement came almost one month to the day from when he lost a unanimous decision to WBA welterweight titleholder Yordenis Ugas on Aug. 21 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas in his first fight in two years.
I wrote about Pacquiao’s announcement, what he had to say and what he faces in his campaign for World Boxing News. Please read that piece here: https://www.worldboxingnews.net/2021/09/19/president-manny-pacquiao-2022/
Moloney looks ahead
Two-time bantamweight world title challenger Jason Moloney (22-2, 18 KOs), 30, of Australia, is hoping to parlay a unanimous decision win — 98-92, 98-92 and 96-94 — over Joshua Greer Jr. on Aug. 14 in Las Vegas into another title opportunity.
The win over Greer on the Top Rank Boxing on ESPN card was a bounce back for Moloney, who in his previous fight in October got knocked out in the seventh round of a spirited effort challenging unified bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue.
“I thought I showed what level I’m at in my last fight, and that’s a level that’s good enough to become world champion,” Moloney said. “I’m highly ranked in the world now with the WBC, so I’m going to leave it to my manager Tony Tolj and Top Rank to make the next move for me, but I’m waiting to make it third time lucky in my world title shot.”
Moloney’s other defeat came by split decision challenging then-IBF bantamweight titlist Emmanuel Rodriguez in the World Boxing Super Series in October 2018 in Orlando, Florida.
“I’m not going to turn down any world title fight that comes my way, but I know how things currently are I may have to wait my turn. I’m good with that,” Moloney said. “I just want to be in entertaining fights and keep showing people that I have all the ability to be a world champion.
“Obviously a fight with the current WBC champion Nonito Donaire would be the dream. He’s a legend at the end of the day. He looks to be on a collision course with (WBO titlist John Riel) Casimero, but if that doesn’t happen I’d fight Donaire in a heartbeat. It would be an honor to share the ring with one of the best ever.”
Quick hits
Three weeks ago, Top Rank chairman Bob Arum told Fight Freaks Unite that the unification fight between WBO women’s junior lightweight titlist Mikaela Mayer (15-0, 5 KOs), 30, of Los Angeles and IBF counterpart Maiva Hamadouche (22-1, 18 KOs), 31, of France, would headline an ESPN+ card on the Friday or Saturday in the first week of November. Now, the date is set and it will take place on Friday, Nov. 5 at the Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas so as to not compete with directly with the far higher profile Canelo Alvarez-Caleb Plant undisputed super middleweight championship fight the following night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, a source with knowledge of the plans told FFU. With Alvarez-Plant the same weekend, it probably will be good for the fight as it is bound to get some attention because of how many boxing media and fans will be in town for the bigger fight the next night.
Super middleweight contender Jesse Hart (27-3, 21 KOs), 32, of Philadelphia, notched a one-sided decision win over Mike Guy (12-7-1, 5 KOs), 40, of Sacramento, California, on Friday night before hometown fans at 2300 Arena. Hart, in his first fight since parting ways with career-long promoter Top Rank, won 80-72, 79-73 and 79-73. The fight was the first in 20 months for Hart, since he dropped a split decision to Joe Smith Jr., who went on to win a light heavyweight world title. Hart’s two other defeats came by decision in super middleweight world title fights against Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez. Hart is due back for another eight-rounder against an opponent to be determined on Nov. 27 at 2300 Arena.
Show and tell
Oscar De La Hoya and Felix Trinidad were two of boxing’s most exciting fighters, among the best pound-for-pound and two of the sport’s biggest stars in the mid-1990s and 2000s. Fans clamored for a showdown between them when they were undefeated welterweight champions in their prime, with the added bonus of it being a Mexico (at least Mexican-American) versus Puerto Rico rivalry fight. It wasn’t easy, but rival promoters Bob Arum of Top Rank, who represented De La Hoya, and Trinidad promoter Don King, were able to make a deal and the big fight was on. De La Hoya was 31-0 and Trinidad was 35-0, a true matchup for the ages, one that promoters and TVKO (the old name for HBO PPV) didn’t shy away from, calling it the “Fight of the Millennium.”
Most expected a memorable battle. Unfortunately, it was anything but because De La Hoya was so dominant and appeared to easily outbox Trinidad for most of the fight. But then De La Hoya took terrible advice from his corner and eased up. He basically ran the final three rounds, giving them away, and it cost him dearly. In the end, Trinidad was shockingly awarded a majority decision win, 115-114, 115-113 and 114-114 for one of the most controversial decisions in boxing history. I thought De La Hoya won 116-112. That massive fight between Hall of Famers sold a then-non-heavyweight record 1.4 million pay-per-view buys. It took place 22 years ago on Saturday. Here is a quite scarce site poster from the fight in my collection.
Canelo photo: Ed Mulholland/Matchroom Boxing; Pacquiao photo: from Ryan Hafey/PBC; Moloney photo: Mikey Williams/Top Rank
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Man seems like a million years since DAZN made a deal with Saul . He made out well, got out of the contract then used DAZN as a platform to keep his name out there with fights of minimum risk but big paydays and lots of hype along the way. Lot of guys made money off DAZN and a few still do, well two or three actually. Now the fan or the subscriber of DAZN well how they did depends on who you ask I suppose. Zero returns all Summer, same with ESPN PlUS oh wait they are putting up some female fighters something else to ignore. No promoter would put female fighters up just bc they are cheaper to pay ? No way. President Pac why not.
Plant will have to put on a clinic and even then he'll be lucky to get a draw against Canelo.