Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez, the delight of Jalisco, Mexico, and Omaha’s unbeaten southpaw Terence “Bud” Crawford are set to collide this Saturday, September 14, in what has rightly been billed as one of many largest fights of 2025. Two modern-day icons, ranked No. 8 and No. 3 respectively on ESPN’s present pound-for-pound Prime Ten, will sq. off with the undisputed tremendous middleweight championship on the road.
The showdown lands at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, house of the NFL’s Raiders, a venue that may pack in anyplace from 55,000 to 72,000 followers. The cardboard kicks off at 3 p.m. native time, with the primary occasion anticipated to start round 11 p.m. to midnight Jap. Canelo, 35, enters because the reigning undisputed champion at 168 kilos—a division he made historical past in by unifying all 4 main belts. Over his profession, he’s additionally held world titles at welterweight, junior middleweight, and even gentle heavyweight. With a professional ledger of 63-2-2 and 39 knockouts, Canelo debuted at simply 15 years previous, scoring a four-round win over Abraham González again in 2005.
Crawford, 37 (he turns 38 later this month), brings an unblemished document of 41-0 with 31 knockouts. A artful southpaw with blazing hand and foot velocity, Bud has already conquered light-weight, junior welterweight, and welterweight, and presently holds a WBA belt at junior middleweight. In recent times, although, his exercise has slowed—simply 4 fights within the final 4 years: Shawn Porter (TKO 10, Nov. 2021), David Avanesyan (TKO 6, Dec. 2022), Errol Spence Jr. (TKO 9, July 2023), and Israil Madrimov (UD 12, Aug. 2024).
Canelo, in contrast, has been busier—9 fights over the identical span. His run contains wins over Caleb Plant, Gennadiy Golovkin, John Ryder, Jermell Charlo, Jaime Munguía, Edgar Berlanga, and most not too long ago William Scull. His solely setback in that stretch got here towards Dmitry Bivol in 2022, a choice loss at gentle heavyweight.
Energy vs. Ability
Saturday’s conflict boils right down to a traditional distinction: the uncooked energy of Canelo towards the slick ability of Crawford. Most observers anticipate Bud to field at vary, utilizing his motion and counterpunching to blunt Álvarez’s offense. Canelo, in the meantime, will look to chop off the ring and take a look at Crawford’s chin together with his trademark proper hand and punishing left hook.
The oddsmakers lean barely towards Canelo, aided by his dimension benefit. At 5’9”, he stands a bit taller than Crawford and, maybe extra importantly, is the pure tremendous middleweight on this matchup. Because the previous saying goes: “A very good massive man beats a superb little man.” Whether or not that boxing axiom holds true as soon as once more stays to be seen—however one factor’s sure: Las Vegas is bracing for a struggle that might outline an period.
