20 little-known facts about Canelo Alvarez

NEW YORK CITY - JUNE 20: Hennessy, the world's best-selling Cognac, presents Lineal and RING Magazine Middleweight World Champion Canelo Alvarez with a custom engraved bottle of Paradis Imperial during the Canelo vs. Golovkin press tour at The Theater at Madison Square Garden. Hennessy recently announced its partnership with Canelo who, like Hennessy, has a passion for pushing the limits of potential to Never stop. Never settle. (Photo by Rob Kim/Getty Images for Hennessy) /

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LAS VEGAS, NV – SEPTEMBER 14: Floyd Mayweather Jr. celebrates his majority-decision victory over Canelo Alvarez in their WBC/WBA 154-pound title fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on September 14, 2013 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /

17. Mayweather vs. Canelo was the most profitable sporting event in history (at the time)

It’s not often that a fighter gets to break multiple records and earn an eight-figure payday the first time they headline a pay-per-view. But that’s exactly what happened to Canelo when he squared off against Mayweather in 2013, in an event billed as “The One.”

The fight itself generated a record $150 million in revenue, with a live gate of $20 million. Canelo walked away with a guaranteed purse of $12 million. Mayweather earned $41 million, but once you take PPV buys into account, it jumps up to $80 million. That shattered the money De La Hoya made in his fight with Floyd. Even though that fight did 200,000 more buys, Floyd-Canelo was – at the time – the most profitable sporting event in history.

While Canelo owed that record payday to Mayweather, who has made those numbers look like chump change on two occasions now, he wasn’t the only one pulling his promotional weight. While Mayweather was routinely earning 1 million buys, he hadn’t come close to 2 million ever since the de la Hoya fight. Canelo’s young star status, and his appearances on previous Mayweather cards, had a lot to do with that figure.

This matchup was also seen as a risk for Floyd. Not only was he moving up a weight class, from welterweight to light middleweight, he was facing a young buck with superb knockout power and a similar amount of wins. But despite the, relatively, close scorecards, Floyd put on a clinic. And although it was a devastating loss for Canelo, it’s proven to be a valuable learning experience.

Even though Canelo hasn’t come close to sniffing those pay-per-view buys, he’s proven that he can carry a marquee event in a post-Mayweather climate. This upcoming fight will most likely be his second straight pay-per-view with a buyrate of over 1 million.

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