Canelo and Golden Boy Part Ways, Canelo Is Promotional Free Agent

Word dropped on Friday, from the social media account of trainer Eddy Reynoso, that Mexican mega star Canelo Alvarez was as of now a promotional free agent.

The 30 year old hitter with a 53-1-2, 36 KOs record announced his new status thusly:

“In my role as manager and coach of Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, I allow myself to communicate to the boxing community and to all our fans, that starting today, November 6th, Canelo becomes a free agent, so we are ready to continue with his boxing career,” Reynoso told the boxing world.

The middleweight-super middleweight-light heavyweight bright light last fought on Nov. 2, 2019, when he dropped and stopped Sergey Kovalev in Las Vegas, and on DAZN.

Since then, discussions had been had as to what he’d do next, but the discussions didn’t prove fruitful, and then got more contentious. DAZN had signed Alvarez to a mega contract late in 2018, an 11 fight-$365 million deal, advertised as the biggest pile of loot an athlete has ever signed for–with the understanding that he’d fight Gennadiy Golovkin for the third time.

Their desire to see that didn’t mesh with Canelo’s timeline to do the same, and promoter Golden Boy sort of got caught in the middle. Golden Boy had Canelo under contract, but also got paid by DAZN, to put shows together, content which would screen on the streaming service. The relationship between Alvarez and Oscar De La Hoya, the head of GBP, grew frosty and then worse than that. Alvarez went the legal route, and his attorneys filed suit, pointing the finger at Golden Boy for not doing the right thing in communicating to him what had been promised to DAZN. Essentially, this was a power play, Canelo flexing, and making sure that people understood who served who in this deal structure.

“All this time we have been working very hard in the ring,” read the Reynoso declaration, “with a lot of responsibility and discipline, to be in great physical shape and to be ready to fight this year, and this will be! We will announce date, rival and place very soon, and we will return stronger than ever to keep growing and showing that Mexican boxing is the best.”

I saw that, and wanted to make sure that everyone was on the same page with this matter. Was and is Golden Boy seeing the relationship between them and Canelo in the same way?

“The lawsuit was resolved to everyone’s satisfaction,” stated Oscar De La Hoya in a release which came out a couple hours after the Reynoso letter,  “and we wish Canelo the best going forward. In strong partnership with DAZN, we will continue showcasing our wide array of talent, including rising superstars like Ryan Garcia, Jaime Munguia and Vergil Ortiz Jr., all of whom have the talent and potential to become the next biggest star in our sport.”

Canelo debuted as a pro in 2005, and fought his first Golden Boy show Oct. 24, 2008, versus Larry Mosley. Here, Canelo and Oscar during sunnier times.

That seems to be a “happy” ending for the two dynamos; you may recall that things got heated and ugly when Alvarez spoke to Mike Coppinger of The Athletic before the fight with Kovalev.

“You can see there’s no loyalty in him,” Alvarez said of De La Hoya to Copp. “He changed trainers during his career. He changed managers in his career. So there’s no loyalty. That’s the way he is. We see it now.”

Oscar was asked by reporters about the beefing. “A boxer and a promoter is like a marriage,” said De La Hoya. “You have your little scuffles here and there—your little scraps. He wins; I win. And at the end of the day, you love each other.”

And, sometimes you split up, with both parties deciding it won’t work out…

The news of Canelo’s new status made the rounds behind the hardcore boxing world, as TMZ covered the development.

If Canelo, as rumored, would maybe fight 168 pound titlist Caleb Plant next, that would indicate he’d be entering into an agreement with Premier Boxing Champions, Plant’s promotional partner.

And the beat will go on, in one form another, for the DAZN crew. Oscar mentioned Ryan Garcia, who, interestingly, is trained by Eddy Reynoso.

The 22 year old Cali boxer will be gloving up on Dec. 5, against Brit vet Luke Campbell, and young gunner Devon Haney will strut his stuff, on DAZN, tomorrow (Saturday, Nov. 7), against Cuban ultra vet Yuriorkis Gamboa.