Canelo Alvarez vs Gennady Golovkin becomes third highest boxing gate at £20m

Oscar De La Hoya hailed Canelo Alvarez as the biggest draw in boxing after the Mexican’s bout with Gennady Golovkin became the third highest gate in boxing.

Alvarez earned a controversial draw with GGG with many onlookers shocked at the scorecards following 12 enthralling rounds.

And the 17,318 spectators packed into T-Mobile Arena produced a gate of £20.1m, trailing only Mayweather vs Pacquiao (£53m) and Mayweather vs McGregor (£41m) on the all-time list.

Golden Boy Promotions CEO De La Hoya works with Alvarez and believes the sky is the limit for his charge.

‘By drawing the third largest gate in [boxing] history, Canelo has demonstrated once again that he is the top draw in our sport,’ he told ESPN.

‘And the scary thing is that he’s still only 27 years old. As he continues to engage in the kind of hard-fought battles he had with GGG, Canelo’s popularity will only continue to soar.’

It remains to be seen whether fans agree with De La Hoya who most expected to come out swinging in defence of Alvarez.

Given that many onlookers regard GGG as the true champion and even Mexican fans booed their home fighter after the scorecards were read out, some of the gloss may have disappeared for the ‘biggest draw’.

That said, a rematch of what was a brilliant encounter seems likely and all involved will hope to break new ground both in terms of a higher gate and more pay-per-view buys.