Canelo-Crawford duel could be among biggest fights
LAS VEGAS—Even in a city known for staging some of boxing’s greatest fights, the Canelo Alvarez-Terence Crawford match stands nearly alone.
It will be the first fight at five-year-old Allegiant Stadium, the Saturday night showdown underscoring the magnitude of an event that will have implications for both boxers trying to further strengthen their Hall of Fame-worthy careers.
Alvarez (63-2-2, 39 knockouts), as is typically the case when the Mexican great fights in his boxing home of Las Vegas, will have the vast majority of the crowd behind him as he defends his unified super-middleweight championship. The 35-year-old is a -175 favorite at BetMGM Sportsbook.
“This fight for me is big,” Alvarez said. “It’s one of the biggest fights of my career for sure.”
Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) is moving up two weight classes, and the 37-year-old from Omaha, Nebraska, already has captured two unified division titles. No male fighter has accomplished that feat in three classes.
“This is a massive fight,” Crawford said. “It’s talked about all over the world right now.”
It’s certainly a talking point in Las Vegas.
The city known as the “Fight Capital of the World” is used to hosting big-time matches, but there was no stadium like Allegiant to house some of the great bouts of the past.
Resorts, such as Caesars Palace’s outdoor arena, The Mirage and Las Vegas Hilton, hosted some of the more notable fights in the 1980s and 1990s before giving way to MGM Grand Garden Arena and then T-Mobile Arena.
Top Rank matchmaker Bruce Trampler, who was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2010, has booked many of those matches, but he’s not involved with this one. UFC CEO and President Dana White and Riyadh Season are promoting this card.
“I think it’s right up there with the great fights in Las Vegas history,” Trampler said. “You’ve got two champions fighting. There’s a lot of storylines—Crawford moving up in weight, Canelo hoping to cement his legacy.”
Kevin Iole, who covered combat sports for the Las Vegas Review-Journal and then Yahoo! Sports, noted many other major fights in this city included star power in both corners.
Muhammad Ali fought Larry Holmes in 1980, Marvelous Marvin Hagler took on Thomas Hearns in 1985, Sugar Ray Leonard met Roberto Duran in 1989 and Mike Tyson faced Evander Holyfield in 1996 and 1997. More recently, Floyd Mayweather Jr. faced Manny Pacquiao in 2015.
“Crawford doesn’t reach the level of stardom,” Iole said. “He will if he wins.”
Alvarez is unquestionably the bigger draw, a point Crawford has conceded.
But the ultimate test is what happens in the ring. It could be a night that will be forgotten quickly or it could go down in history.
“There’s a reason there’s going to be 50,000 or 60,000 people there,” Trampler said.
