The confirmed superfight between Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford set to take place on September 13 will be streamed globally on Netflix.
The boxing bout between Alvarez and Crawford is to be held in Las Vegas, Nevada but a venue has yet to be announced.
With over 300 million worldwide subscribers, Netflix is quickly becoming the go-to platform for sporting events due to its significant global reach.
Netflix already has a 10-year deal in place with WWE – owned by TKO Group – to live stream its weekly programme RAW, and has also staged two NFL games on Christmas Day 2025. Due to being the largest streaming company in the world, Netflix is becoming a viable home for sports leagues who are aiming to grow internationally.
The global streaming platform has also taken a liking to boxing, albeit in an exhibition format. Its first foray into the sport came when it live streamed the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson event, and while some customers experienced buffering issues, Netflix drew 65 million viewers.
The fight will be co-promoted between Turki Alalshikh, General Entertainment Authority Chairman, UFC President Dana White, alongside Riyadh Season and Sela.
This will see the first co-promoted boxing event between Alalshikh and White since the announcement of a new boxing promotion between TKO Group – parent company of UFC – and Sela.
The new boxing organisation aims to introduce sweeping changes to how boxing is run, involving one world title per weight division, stronger undercards and a focus on growing the sport globally.
As Netflix prepares for its second boxing broadcast with the Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano trilogy bout on July 11, and with Canelo vs. Crawford set to be one of the biggest boxing fights in history, why were DAZN unlucky to miss out?
Where does this leave DAZN?
DAZN has placed significant focus on boxing, making the sport one of its primary offerings to subscribers. The platform has agreements with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing and Frank Warren’s Queensbury Promotions and provides a pay-per-view service for high-profile fights.
While the platform has broadcasted live boxing events from Saudi Arabia and in association with Riyadh Season in the past, most recently the undisputed rematch between Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev, Netflix edged DAZN for the rights to broadcast boxing’s biggest fight.
This will no doubt be a blow DAZN will have to handle, but within the announcement of the SURJ Investment in February 2025, the release stated the partnership will “unlock new broadcasting opportunities for Saudi Arabia’s growing sports sector” and the creation of DAZN MENA.
Canelo vs. Crawford landing on Netflix does not necessarily mean all TKO Group boxing events will all be broadcast on Netflix. The world’s largest streaming service typically agrees to one-time deals, such as the two NFL games on Christmas Day.
There are still details to be ironed out regarding TKO Boxing, such as an official broadcast partner and the other 11 boxing events the organisation stated it will stage and how frequent they will be.
This leaves an opportunity open for not just Netflix and DAZN, but also traditional TV networks like ESPN and NBC who had previously broadcasted boxing events in the past.
But in the current sports broadcasting landscape, streaming services are not only helping to drive the valuations of rights fees more than ever before, they are becoming an attractive partner due to their direct-to-consumer model that can be applied in almost every country in the world.
Netflix may have beaten out DAZN for boxing’s biggest superfight, but it remains competitive if it can land a long-term broadcast partnership with TKO Group if Netflix continues its one-time event strategy.
