Álvarez fought six instances on DAZN, first underneath his now-terminated contract with Golden Boy Promotions and later as a free agent in a sequence of one-off bouts. He returned to Showtime’s pay-per-view platform for the Plant bout, and the broadcaster hopes to leverage its ties with the Premier Boxing Champions managerial outfit to lure Álvarez again. David Benavidez, a former supermiddleweight champion, fights underneath the P.B.C. banner, as does Jermall Charlo, a middleweight champion open to transferring up a weight class.
“We’re optimistic we’ll have the ability to proceed the connection,” Stephen Espinoza, president of Showtime Sports activities, stated earlier than the struggle.
Álvarez’s attract to promoters and broadcasters is evident. Along with his pay-per-view numbers, he attracts ticket patrons. In Could, greater than 73,000 spectators stuffed AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, and watched him break Billy Joe Saunders’s face in a world title bout. On Saturday, a capability crowd of 16,586 got here to the MGM Grand Backyard Area to see him college Plant.
These numbers additionally entice curiosity from different fighters, who acknowledge that an Álvarez bout is prone to convey a career-high payout.
After dispatching Marcos Hernandez with a highlight-reel, bolo punch knockout within the co-main occasion, the previous supermiddleweight champion Anthony Dirrell mused about turning into Álvarez’s subsequent opponent. If he can not safe that struggle, he stated, he’ll retire.
“I’m 37 years previous. If I can’t struggle for one thing, I’m preventing for nothing,” he stated at a information convention. “I’m getting too previous for this, man.”
And after profitable a choice over Colby Covington to headline U.F.C. 268, Usman, a 170-pound blended martial arts champion, talked overtly about preventing Álvarez in a boxing match.