Revealed: Shocking allegations made by Canelo Alvarez in DAZN, Oscar De La Hoya lawsuit

Planet Sport writerStaff Writer16 September 2020
Oscar

Oscar

Canelo vs DAZN and De La Hoya may roll on for some time yet...

Canelo Alvarez issued a lawsuit against DAZN, Oscar De La Hoya and Golden Boy Promotions last week.

On Friday, a federal judge from California dismissed the case on technical grounds. It is said that Canelo and his team had not filed the suit correctly.
This is not the end of the story, however. Alvarez has until September 28 to refile the suit and submit it to restart the case again.

In the lawsuit, Canelo makes several remarkable allegations that go some way to explain his anger at DAZN and Oscar De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions.

Canelo Alvarez ringside in 2019

Firstly, it is revealed that De la Hoya was the one who had the final say on Canelo's opponents.
In his original deal with Golden Boy, Canelo had the authority to accept or reject any potential opponents. But once he signed with DAZN, that right was diverted to them.

It is said that Canelo was not aware of this and upon finding out, his huge deal with the streaming service almost fell through at the last minute. The suit adds:

"Notably, the Alvarez Contract did not mention that DAZN would have any right to accept or reject any opponents selected by Alvarez."

Further to this, paragraph 31 of the suit revealed that De La Hoya 'personally assumed liability for all guaranteed payments.'

This would put De La Hoya at the brunt of the $280m Alvarez is seeking in damages. The full section stated:
"The Alvarez Contract required Golden Boy to pay Alvarez guaranteed payments totaling $365 million for his next eleven boxing matches ($15 million for the December 2018 bout with Rocky Fielding and $35 million dollars for each of his next ten bouts thereafter), expected to be on or about May 5 and September 16 of the years 2019 to 2023. Pursuant to the Alvarez Contract, Oscar De La Hoya, Golden Boy Promotions' CEO, personally assumed liability for all guaranteed payments."

Oscar De La Hoya inside the ring

We are nowhere near the conclusion of this issue, as it is likely to go on for months or even years from now.
Canelo will be keen to get it resolved in his favour sooner rather than later so he can make his in-ring return.
The 30-year-old last fought in November 2019, as he knocked out Sergey Kovalev in their world light-heavyweight title bout.

Meanwhile, Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn has suggested that DAZN have been lobbying for Canelo to fight several MMA fighters. In an interview with IFLTV, Hearn said:

"I know there were talks about Canelo actually fighting an MMA guy. It wasn't these guys were just plucked from the sky. And yes, DAZN would've absolutely accepted those guys. They're huge subscriber driven events."