Canelo Alvarez and Rocky Fielding were in Madison Square Garden on Wednesday to hold a press conference for their fight that will take place on December 15th coming off the big deal that Canelo signed to be part of the DAZN network. The WBA super middleweight title will be on the line in this matchup as Fielding will make his first defense after being Tyron Zeuge by knockout earlier this year. Fielding (27-1) also comes to fight in the United States for the first time in his career against Canelo.

This fight would give Alvarez (50-1-2) an opportunity to become a three division champion as he has become a unified champion in the super welterweight and middleweight divisions. He is coming off the majority decision win over Gennady Golovkin in September to win the lineal, WBC and WBA middleweight titles and he hopes to ride that momentum into New York City to defeat the Englishman.

“For me it’s a challenge. It’s a new challenge to move up a division,” Alvarez said. “We know the challenge we have in front of us and we’re going to train real hard to enter the history of Mexican boxing.”

He has looked forward to fighting at Madison Square Garden for the first time in his 13 year professional career, and gets his chance on December 15th.

“I’m very happy to be here…I have wanted to fight here for many years…I want to give a great fight to the fans in New York.”

For Fielding, it is an opportunity to score the biggest win of his professional career after winning his first world title. In 2015, he lost to current WBA “super” champion Callum Smith then went on a string of victories before beating Zeuge in Germany for the WBA title in July. While the attention is on Canelo for his 5-year 365 million dollar deal with DAZN, Fielding wants to let the world know how good he is in his fight against Canelo.

“Everyone wrote me off, no one gave me a chance, and I went there, believing I could do it, and I got the win,” said Fielding in reference to his fight against Zeuge earlier this year. “I’ve worked all my life to get to the world stage. And now I’m fighting the biggest name, the biggest star in boxing in Madison Square Garden.”

“I know that Canelo is an elite fighter…I respect him, I’ve watched him fight over the years. However, I’m going in there (December 15th) to win.”

This is the first of the eleven fights that Canelo will have under the DAZN streaming platform, as Canelo will earn 365 million dollars over five years. After being on HBO Pay Per View since 2015, this gives boxing fans another method to watching the most popular fighter in the sport.

“I’ve always said, when one door closes, another door opens…And we’re very happy with this new alliance that we’ve made with DAZN,” Canelo said about his recent signing. “Forget about the prices, the amount of money we’re making. The most important thing is that fans can enjoy this fight at a very low price. Thank you very much DAZN and Golden Boy, I’m very happy.”

Cover Photo by Amanda Westcott of DAZN