Canelo Alvarez a winner, and not only in the ring

ByARASH MARKAZI
December 16, 2018, 2:06 AM

NEW YORK -- Saturday night was about more than what happened in the ring for Canelo Alvarez.

Sure, if Rocky Fielding had pulled a Rocky Balboa and scored one of the biggest upsets in boxing history by defeating Alvarez, it would have changed everything. But that was never close to becoming a reality during Canelo's one-sided TKO victory over Fielding in the third round to win the WBA regular super middleweight belt, making Alvarez a three-division world titleholder.

The result was a fait accompli the moment the bout was announced, but the impact of Alvarez's win at Madison Square Garden -- his first fight since 2008 outside Southern California, Las Vegas, Texas or Mexico -- will be the most intriguing subplot to watch moving forward into 2019.

Alvarez's triumph over Fielding was the first fight of his five-year, 11-fight deal worth a minimum of $365 million with DAZN, a new sports streaming service that launched in the United States in September. The deal is the richest athlete contract in sports history and monetarily backs up his status as the new king of boxing, at least in North America.