{"id":138188,"date":"2025-09-12T17:31:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T17:31:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/138188\/"},"modified":"2025-09-12T17:31:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T17:31:12","slug":"biggest-u-s-boxing-match-in-years-backed-by-ufc-netflix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/138188\/","title":{"rendered":"Biggest U.S. boxing match in years backed by UFC, Netflix"},"content":{"rendered":"

The \u201cmost interesting subplot\u201d in Las Vegas this week is that the \u201cbiggest boxing fight for years\u201d in the U.S. is \u201cbeing promoted by the world\u2019s leading cage-fighting promoter and is on a global streaming service,\u201d according to Gareth Davies of the London TELEGRAPH. The Canelo Alvarez-Terence Crawford super fight on Netflix<\/a> (joint purse reportedly about $201M) \u201csignals a shift in boxing in the US.\u201d The UFC will \u201coversee the event,\u201d while Netflix, with its 300-million-plus subscriber base, will \u201cbe the broadcast cradle.\u201d Saudi Arabian matchmaker Turki Al-Sheikh has, in less than two years, \u201cinvested an estimated billion dollars revolutionising the sport, ridding it of the politics of match-making and rival promoters, and underwriting the biggest match-ups in its blue-riband heavyweight division.\u201d The UFC is now \u201camong the big five sports\u201d in the U.S. The new broadcast deal signed<\/a> recently by UFC President & CEO Dana White is \u201ccrucially with no pay-per-view events.\u201d It has heralded Al-Sheikh \u201cproclaiming the same for boxing, that he will bring an end to the PPV model.\u201d Davies wrote the Saudi minister is not \u201conly the most influential figure in the sport, but also its arch-disruptor.\u201d Al-Sheikh\u2019s plans put him and White \u201con a convergent path\u201d (London TELEGRAPH, 9\/11<\/a>).<\/p>\n

BIG FIGHT FEEL: The AP\u2019s W.G. Ramirez wrote Alvarez has \u201cplayed the role of the face of boxing well\u201d leading up to Saturday\u2019s bout against Crawford at 65,000-seat Allegiant Stadium, but he now \u201cfaces his biggest test on the biggest stage.\u201d As boisterous as Alvarez \u201ccould be,\u201d he remained \u201chumble about the event that will be broadcast on Netflix without a pay-per-view purchase for subscribers.\u201d Alvarez: \u201cYou can see the magnitude of the fight. \u2026 I\u2019m going to bring this fight to America because I think this kind of fight is (big). I just want to tell the people to enjoy this fight because it\u2019s huge\u201d (AP, 9\/10<\/a>). The AP\u2019s Mark Anderson wrote the event will be the first fight at 5-year-old Allegiant Stadium, the Saturday night showdown \u201cunderscoring the magnitude of an event that will have implications for both boxers trying to further strengthen their Hall of Fame-worthy careers.\u201d It is \u201ccertainly a talking point in Las Vegas.\u201d The city is \u201cused to hosting big-time matches, but there was no stadium like Allegiant to house some of the great bouts of the past.\u201d Top Rank matchmaker Bruce Trampler said, \u201cThere\u2019s a reason there\u2019s going to be 50,000 or 60,000 people there. That\u2019s because everyone wants to see it. It\u2019s going to be quite the event, the biggest one of the year in Las Vegas for sure\u201d (AP, 9\/11<\/a>). REUTERS\u2019 Rory Carroll noted despite the fight happening on U.S. soil, Alvarez\u2019s fans are \u201cexpected to be in the majority\u201d at Allegiant Stadium due to the four-division world champion\u2019s \u201cmassive popularity among the Nevada city\u2019s large Mexican population\u201d (REUTERS, 9\/10<\/a>).<\/p>\n

CELEBRATING SUCCESS: In L.A., Jad El Reda wrote the tradition of Aztec dominance has been \u201ccontinued in a big way by\u201d Alvarez, who on Oct. 29 \u201cwill celebrate a historic 20-year professional career\u201d that began when he was just 15 years old. The celebration has \u201calready been planned\u201d and, like \u201ceverything else involving \u00c1lvarez, it will be private but \u2018on a grand scale.\u2019\u201d The magnitude will \u201clikely depend on whether he emerges victorious\u201d (L.A. TIMES, 9\/10<\/a>). Saudi General Entertainment Authority Chair Turki Alalshikh said that Alvarez is \u201cguaranteed to make more than\u201d $100M from the fight (USA TODAY, 9\/11<\/a>).<\/p>\n

A NEW ERA: BOXING SCENE\u2019s Lance Pugmire wrote the new TKO boxing promotion<\/a> \u201cultimately hopes to award its own title belts,\u201d but in the meantime, the group is \u201cgiving all four sanctioning bodies the cold shoulder.\u201d Traditionally, representatives would award their four belts to the winner of Saturday night\u2019s undisputed super-middleweight title fight. But World Boxing Council President Mauricio Sulaiman said that he has \u201cnot received communication\u201d from TKO on \u201ca number of requests, including permission to deliver his belt to the winner.\u201d A TKO official said that the matter \u201cmay be resolved during fight week.\u201d Sulaiman said, \u201cI surely hope\u201d a resolution arrives (BOXING SCENE, 9\/8<\/a>).<\/p>\n

BOXING\u2019S REMODEL: In Las Vegas, Ed Graney wrote there has been a \u201cserious change\u201d in boxing, from \u201ca pay-per-view model to a streaming platform like Netflix.\u201d Such events can \u201cnow be delivered to millions and millions of people as part of their subscription.\u201d And that is \u201ca good thing for the consumer.\u201d And a \u201cgood thing for a sport desiring to engage the casual (or completely disinterested) fan\u201d who boxer Callum Walsh noted that just \u201cmight click on it by accident.\u201d Netflix VP\/Sports Gabe Spitzer said, \u201cBy moving high-profile fights from the traditional, high-cost pay-per-view model to Netflix, we are making these events accessible to millions of casual fans globally who wouldn\u2019t have paid for them otherwise\u201d (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOUNRAL, 9\/11<\/a>). YAHOO SPORTS\u2019 Darshan Desai wrote Alvarez and Crawford are \u201cbattling to keep boxing relevant in the country that has served as the sport\u2019s epicenter for more than a century.\u201d Boxing in the U.S. is \u201carguably at its lowest point since its first golden age began in the early 20th century.\u201d Boxing \u201ccould get the shot in the arm it desperately needs.\u201d Millions of potential casual fans will \u201chave the chance to stumble upon the event, making it a rare mainstream showcase for the sport.\u201d And boxing \u201cdesperately needs to show out for the folks passing by\u201d (YAHOO SPORTS, 9\/11<\/a>).<\/p>\n

PERFECT TIMING: Crawford announced a sponsorship deal with WatchGuys.com. The online luxury watch retailer presented Crawford with a custom 2025 Rolex Submariner, valued at $15,000, engraved with \u201c42-0,\u201d representing his record, on the case back. The partnership was revealed in a ceremony at Crawford\u2019s Las Vegas suite, just hours before the sold-out bout (WatchGuys.com).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The \u201cmost interesting subplot\u201d in Las Vegas this week is that the \u201cbiggest boxing fight for years\u201d in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":138189,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,18577,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-138188","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-boxing","11":"tag-combat-sports","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138188\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}