Canelo Alvarez is now his own man.
Eddy Reynoso, his manager and trainer, announced that Alvarez and Golden Boy Promotions have agreed to part ways, which evidently also frees him from his affiliation with DAZN. The separation takes effect today.
And the three-division titleholder, who hasn’t fought since November of last year, is wasting no time restarting his career. ESPN is reporting that Alvarez is targeting a Dec. 19 return against super middleweight titleholder Caleb Plant, although nothing has been finalized.
Plant is affiliated with Premier Boxing Champions, a rival of Golden Boy.
“In my role as manager and coach of Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, I allow myself to communicate to the boxing community and to all our fans, that starting today, November 6th, “Canelo” becomes a free agent, so we are ready to continue with his boxing career,” Reynoso said in a statement.
“All this time we have been working very hard in the gym with a lot of responsibility and discipline, to be in great physical shape and ready to fight this year and it will be!
“We will announce date, rival and place very soon, and we will return stronger than ever to keep growing and showing that Mexican boxing is the best.”
Neither Golden Boy nor DAZN has made public comments.
Alvarez sued his handlers for breach of contract on Sept. 15 for at least $280 million in damages and freedom to go his own way. The suit was thrown out of court on a technicality and then refiled, although the sides engaged in extension negotiations in an attempt to reach an agreement.
DAZN reportedly had refused to pay him his full guarantee unless he fought what the streaming serviced deemed a premium opponent. That included Gennadiy Golovkin but not super middleweight titleholders Billy Joe Saunders or Callum Smith, who are top-level fighters but not the type of draws DAZN seeks.
After the lawsuit was filed, DAZN reportedly offered Alvarez a restructured deal by which the fighter would earn a base of $20 million plus a percentage of money generated by additional DAZN subscriptions, according to The Athletic. Alvarez’s original contract guaranteed him $35 million per fight.
The offer also addressed the issue of opponent approval, which reportedly would be shared under the restructured deal.
However, in the end, efforts to salvage the relationship failed and the sides agreed to sever ties. The 11-fight, $365 million deal Alvarez signed in 2018 is dead. Now he’s free to fight who, when and where he pleases for top pay-per-view dollar.
Alvarez last fought in in November of last year, when he stopped Sergey Kovalev to win a light heavyweight title.