Brizel Editorial: Politics of Canelo’s DAZN Breach of Contract 280 million Dollar Lawsuit
Editorial By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Boxing Correspondent
Given the scope and impact of the COVID-19 Novel Coronavirus Pandemic on professional boxing and professional sports, the newly filed lawsuit of Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, represented by their Maloney Law Firm in California, on ten different points against Golden Boy Promotions, Oscar De La Hoya, and U.S. Broadcasting network DAZN would seem to be a stretch in Los Angeles Federal Court.
Court dates and court arguments are rare, given the situation of the pandemic. Any argument for breach of contract and intentional interference will not hold right now, as traditional boxing is now functioning in a state of confusion, extreme safety protocols, or no boxing at all.
In the worst-case scenario, Canelo’s life could be endangered by a public boxing event. As boxing’s biggest draw, does Oscar De La Hoya really want to take that chance? Canelo has not fought since November 2019, and will likely be inactive for all of 2020. Given the situation, it is not Oscar De La Hoya’s fault. It is not possible to negotiate traditional contracts, title bouts, purses, televised promotions and ticket sales given the extreme nature of the times we are now living through and trying to survive. There are a great many unknowns still to come in terms of the progress and growth of the current pandemic, and in all true honesty nobody, even Canelo and Oscar De la Hoya, can fully be held accountable or to blame for the worst pandemic since the Spanish Flu a hundred years ago.
Canelo is seeking 280 million dollars plus lost revenue and gate ticket sales of the 350 million dollar deal he signed with DAZN in 2018. There are no ticket sales at present,
And parts of the lawsuit, if and when it comes to trial (if it ever does, given the current situation of virtually no courtroom or slow-moving virtual courtrooms) parts of the lawsuit will be thrown out. The question remains as to whether a pay-per-view event with Canelo could be staged in conjunction with Golden Boy Promotions and DAZN which would earn big money, given the pack of spectators and the unique set of circumstances created by current Coronavirus safety protocols involving masks, disinfection, and testing.
When Canelo’s bout with Billy Joe Saunders at 168 pounds got canceled in May 2020, Canelo continued to seek an alternate opponent or solution. The bigger issue has to do with inactivity. Canelo has to remain active. Canelo currently holds world titles at middleweight and super middleweight 160 and 168 pounds and knocked out Sergey Kovalev for a title at 175 pounds. Canelo can and will fight anywhere between 160 and 175 to remain active. No other broadcasting partner can be found, and no premier opponent can be found who can match the impact of a Gennady Golovkin III trilogy bout, which Canelo apparently has a distaste for.
It’s all about the money. Canelo is in his prime. Super opponents who can bring in big sales in pay-per-view buys are what it’s all about. The best suggestion available is Canelo needs to take some fights and not concern himself with the money at this point, to remain active and sharp. To the extent his contract has been violated or not remains the major sticking point., Canelo was guaranteed 10 bouts in five years. He has had three bouts in 24 months.
Alvarez, 53-1-2 with 36 knockouts, Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, remains boxing’s biggest draw and number one pound for pound fighter. For boxing to resurrect itself at this point in time, a Canelo comeback would do much for the sport. Part of the issue with Canelo’s contract in dispute is he is a fighter in a class by himself. Canelo could try Conor McGregor, or a rematch with Floyd Mayweather Jr. Most regular titular opponents are not at the contractual league or ability level as Canelo. As such, Canelo signed into a contract with great expectations. There are no Sugar Ray Leonards, Marvelous Marvin Haglers, Thomas Hearns or Roberto Durans in the modern era for Canelo to fight. After Floyd, GGG and Danny Jacobs, most opponents are just that-opponents-even those holding versions of world titles.
Perhaps Canelo’s lawsuit represents the frustration of all professional boxers and athletes who need to earn a living in these trying times. Iron Mike Tyson’s exhibition comeback and Sergio Gabriel Martinez’s ongoing comeback attempt could at least give the sport of boxing some good publicity, which in the face of the pandemic, boxing now desperately needs. Everybody loves Canelo, but the simple fact remains boxing promoters have caught in a bottomless fog, with no way to see the light around them, and no adequate means of staging a normal boxing event for television or pay-per-view in the new normal which is not the normal we remember. As to the extent professional boxing emerges for its current stasis state of suspended existence for the most part, the challenge of all sports, amateur and professional, is to serve the current state of crisis. Unfortunately, boxing contracts cannot hold up now as the circumstances under which they were written cannot be enforced due to safety protocols and procedures which must be enforced.
It could be not just months, but years, before Canelo’s lawsuit gets a fair hearing, given the current state of things. Hopefully, by then, the Coronavirus Pandemic will have run its course, and boxing, like humanity, will emerge from its experiences the better with greater wisdom and a greater appreciation for human life. It is possible Canelo’s ten points of contentions contains some areas where his contract was violated not related to the pandemic. Until it plays out in court, those points cannot be fully annunciated and debated. Enforcement of boxing contracts at this time would seem to be on hiatus.
Canelo’s concern is years could pass before the pandemic ends, and he could wind up with few or no fights, and little or no money based on what was signed and promised. However, until the Coronavirus Pandemic reaches its end, it would be hard to enforce contractual terms. All sports, amateur and professional, are functioning restricted or not at all. Boxing is unique in it is predicated on its fan base. “The Roar of the Crowd” as the late former World Heavyweight champion Gentleman Jim Corbett put it, has fallen silent, without which boxing is missing its heart. Boxing promotion cannot be attempted in the same breath as it was before the pandemic started, leaving promoters like Oscar De la Hoya in a confusing crazy quagmire, attempting to solve a riddle which is a contradiction in terms.
There is always hope. We all live on in hope for the future, of better days, and things getting better. All we can do is hope when all of this ends, there will be a ray of bright sunshine over professional sports. Until then, we are somewhere between emotional darkness and disbelief. Life offers many challenges. Canelo’s lawsuit, if and when it is heard, will be a historical statement of or times, and an interpretation of what sports contracts mean when “An Act of God” (as in the pandemic) interferes with the proper ability to honor the terms of a sports contract.
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