Strong sales for Canelo Alvarez vs. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. bode well for Golovkin showdown
If the still-trickling sales figures don’t push Canelo Alvarez’s one-sided unanimous-decision victory over Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. to 1 million pay-per-view buys, it now seems ironclad that Alvarez’s Sept. 16 bout against Gennady Golovkin will.
Industry sources familiar with Alvarez-Chavez Jr. sales reported Thursday that the bout at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile will at least match the 938,000 buys that Alvarez’s 2015 triumph over Miguel Cotto drew.
No boxing pay-per-view has generated 1 million buys since the disappointing lack of action in Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s record-selling victory over Manny Pacquiao, which posted 4.6 million buys.
One industry source said final accounting may ultimately put Alvarez-Chavez Jr. at 1 million, but another reported reaching that landmark figure is “unlikely based on our conversations with both cable and satellite sources.”
Yet, for a bout that also disappointed in the ring, with Chavez Jr. performing lethargically after cutting to 164 pounds — a weight he hadn’t been down to in five years — the sales indicate revived interest in boxing.
And Alvarez (49-1-1) pounced on that after his 120-108 margin on all three judges’ scorecards by announcing in the ring that his next opponent would be Golovkin (37-0, 33 KOs), the three-belt middleweight champion who appeared with his rival, staged a post-fight news conference and announced the deal was signed for the Sept. 16 bout at a venue to be determined.
Twitter: @latimespugmire
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