Canelo Alvarez and Dmitry Bivol came face-to-face today in San Diego to officially launch their clash at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday, May 7, with Bivol defending his WBA World Light-Heavyweight title against the pound for pound king on Cinco de Mayo weekend Sin City.
The May 7 blockbuster will be available to subscribers worldwide on DAZN, excluding Latin America and Mexico. In the U.S. & Canada, the event will be offered exclusively on DAZN Pay-Per-View (PPV) – newly introduced for very select events to come – priced at $59.99 for current subscribers and $79.99 for new subscribers (inclusive of a one-month subscription to DAZN).
An announcement on ticket on-sale dates and prices will be made in due course.
Canelo Alvarez
“Thank you to Dmitry Bivol for the opportunity to fight for your world championship; thank you so much. I’m glad to be back with Eddie Hearn and working with him with DAZN; I’m excited for this year.
“When I work hard and do my best in the ring, I make a good fight for the fans. Thank you, everybody, and I’ll see you on May 7.
“I don’t care; I like challenges; it makes me feel alive – challenges for me in everything in my life. I want a good challenge, and now I have an excellent fighter in front of me, and I’m excited about this fight.
“Bivol is a tough fighter, and it’s going to be a perfect fight for Cinco de Mayo weekend with my people in Las Vegas – Mexican weekend. I’m excited, and I’m going to prepare really well because this fight is going to be really hard.”
Dmitry Bivol
“I want to say thank you to all my team, my promoter, World of Boxing, and to DAZN, Eddie Hearn, and Canelo for the opportunity to make this fight.
“I believe in my skills, and when I come to the ring, I believe in my victory. I’m looking forward to May 7, thank you.
“Me and my team wanted this fight, and I’m glad this fight will be in the United States and one of the Mecca of boxing. This is also very exciting, and it means a lot to me.
“This is very important for me, especially because I’m fighting one of the best if not the best in the world right now; I want people to be able to see me and my skills; this is a big fight that can give me the ability to achieve my other goals and go on if I win this fight.”
Eddie Hearn
“Legacy is earned is a strapline for this event, and I don’t think anything could be more fitting when you talk about Canelo Alvarez. Back on DAZN PPV on May 7 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Canelo Alvarez challenges Dmitry Bivol for the WBA Light-Heavyweight title.
“It’s an absolute honor to sign a multi-fight deal with Canelo Alvarez and his team, the great Eddy Reynoso, and of course DAZN as well – working with this man is exceptional.
“I think we all appreciate in boxing that the big fights never get made, and that’s because the teams and fighters sometimes look for easier options; I’ve never worked with anyone like Canelo Alvarez and Eddy Reynoso.
“This is a true great of modern-day boxing, and when you look at the resume off the back of the two fights with GGG, fights against Daniel Jacobs for the middleweight championship, stepping up two divisions to fight Sergei Kovalev for the WBO light-heavyweight championship. Within one year becomes an undisputed 168-pound champion by beating all three champions in Callum Smith, Billy Joe Saunders, and Caleb Plant.
“If that wasn’t enough, now he moves up again another division to fight, in my opinion, the best light-heavyweight in the world in Dmitry Bivol. Dmitry Bivol is an undefeated, current WBA champion of the world; we’ve worked with him for a long time, his manager Vadim Kornilov, and the world of boxing with which we have a great relationship.
“This young man has been looking for an opportunity like this for a long time; this is not a young man who’s reached the end of his career or is past his prime; this is an outstanding champion in his absolute prime ready for the opportunity of his life against the pound-for-pound king of boxing – Saul Canelo Alvarez.”
Eddy Reynoso
“Thank you for the award; special thanks to Ring Magazine for making this happen. We’re pleased about this fight against a very tough challenge, a grand champion in Dmitry Bivol.
“We’re looking forward to the challenge that we have; we’re trying to build Canelo’s legacy obviously into the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. Thank you to everyone who is here.”
Vadim Kornilov
“We appreciate the opportunity; this is a fascinating fight for us and something we’ve vowed for a very long time. We appreciate team Canelo for giving us the opportunity, we look forward to it, and I hope everybody will be healthy and ready for the fight. I’m looking forward to a great event.”
Joseph Markowski
“It’s a really exciting day for us at DAZN, and we couldn’t think of a better event and a better partner in Canelo Alvarez, Eddy Reynoso, to launch our DAZN PPV platform. As Eddie alluded to, clearly, our global schedule is getting stronger and stronger; the subscription value that we are offering is continuing to be very strong with our special events around PPV. We’re genuinely excited about the opportunity that gives out business in the coming years.
“Eddie spoke about the quality of this match-up, the deal with Canelo gives us a fantastic couple of events this year, and we can’t wait to serve that on the DAZN PPV platform to our audience around the world. To both men, thank you for your partnership and best of luck in your preparation; we look forward to seeing all of you come May 7 on DAZN PPV.”
