Canelo Alvarez is expected to earn a staggering $53million for his title clash with Dmitry Bivol tonight while his rival will earn a career-high payday of around $5m.
Alvarez will make a return to 175lb as he looks to become two-time champion in the division with a stern examination against Bivol at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The Mexican star is considered the sport's leading fighter in terms of commercial and fighting value.
The 31-year-old will enjoy another bumper payday with a guaranteed $15m payday which is expected to rise to $53m in line with pay-per-view revenue and gate takings. Alvarez signed a two-fight deal with Matchroom Boxing with his fights to be broadcast on DAZN on pay-per-view in the US and Canada.
Bivol will earn around $2m guaranteed which could later increase to $5m after revenue from the fight is calculated. This will be a career-high payday for the Russian with his highest previous purses coming at $500,000 against Craig Richards and Umar Salamov in his last two outings.
Pound-for-pound king Alvarez has earned some lucrative paydays throughout his career including $12m for his outing with Floyd Mayweather before previously signing a deal with DAZN worth $365m. Despite having now exited that contract, Alvarez has now signed a two-fight deal reportedly worth around $160m, with a trilogy against Gennady Golovkin likely to take place in September if he can navigate Bivol.
Alvarez's last payday was also extremely lucrative having earned around $45m for his undisputed title clash with Caleb Plant at 168lb where he made history and became the first four-belt champion at 168lb. 'Canelo' also fought Billy Joe Saunders, Avni Yildirim and Callum Smith on the way to the shot which generated him a bumper combined earning of $70m.
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With a possible trilogy against bitter rival Golovkin on the horizon, Alvarez has urged focus on his upcoming test and is excited to be returning to the ring at 175lb. "Thank you to Dmitry Bivol for the opportunity to fight for your world championship, thank you so much," Alvarez said. "I’m glad to be back with Eddie Hearn and working with him, with DAZN, I’m really excited for this year.
“I don’t care, I like challenges, it makes me feel alive – challenges for me in everything in my life. I like a good challenge and now I have a very good fighter in front of me and I’m excited for this fight. Bivol is a really tough fighter and it’s going to be a really good fight for Cinco de Mayo weekend with my people in Las Vegas – Mexican weekend. I’m really excited and I’m going to prepare really well because this fight is going to be really hard.”
