Terence “Bud” Crawford dared to be great.
He moved up two weight classes to fight the legendary Mexican boxer Canelo Álvarez at Álvarez’s own weight. In one of the greatest performances of all time, Crawford outboxed Álvarez the entire fight, winning a unanimous decision. After the fight, Álvarez even referred to Crawford as “way better than Floyd Mayweather,” who is often considered the greatest fighter of the 2000s.
The Sept. 13 card itself was a massive night for boxing, with great performances throughout. Christian M’billi and Lester Martínez engaged in a brutal slugfest in the middle of the ring for ten rounds before ending in a draw.
“King” Callum Walsh won an impressive victory over the undefeated Fernando Vargas Jr., son of former world champion Fernando Vargas. The young Irishman from Cork, who is promoted by UFC CEO Dana White, gave a good performance that has the potential to propel his career forward. Vargas Jr. had a solid performance in his own right despite his defeat against Walsh.
Max Kellerman, the former the co-host of ESPN’s talk show “First Take,” made his long awaited return to boxing commentary and the sports media landscape since his quiet exit from the network in 2023.
This card may usher in a new era for the sport of boxing, led by Saudi Arabian adviser and sports promoter Turki Al-Sheikh and White. The Saudis’ involvement in boxing has been growing for years, and they plan on creating a new UFC-style boxing league with the help of The Ring Magazine and Riyadh Season. The Ring is a legendary boxing magazine that had fallen out of print circulation before being acquired by the Kingdom in 2024. Riyadh season is a months long festival held in Saudi that has heavily featured boxing in recent years facilitating major fights with big names like Artur Beterbiev, Anthony Joshua and Oleksander Usyk.
The main event between Crawford and Àlvarez was broadcast on Netflix rather than pay-per-view, or PPV, which allowed it to reach a much larger audience.
Crawford was the main story of the night, moving up in weight class to beat the face of the sport in Álvarez. He joined the great Floyd Mayweather and undisputed light heavyweight champ Dimitry Bivol as the third man to beat Álvarez, outboxing him and showing he was not afraid of Álvarez’s power.
There were questions about both fighters coming into the fight.
Álvarez came in off of a six-fight win streak, but his past wins came against mediocre opponents. The biggest names he fought were Gennady Golovkin, or GGG, Edgar Berlanga and Jermell Charlo. Álvarez defeated Golovkin for the second time in their third fight; however, Golovkin was well past his prime. Berlanga, despite having a promising start to his career with a 16-fight knockout streak, had seen a down turn after being suspended for biting an opponent. Charlo, the twin brother of fellow champ Jermall Charlo, put up little resistance to Canelo. Many had criticized Canelo for not fighting No. 1 contender David Benavidez, calling him a “duck” for refusing to fight a fellow Mexican.
Crawford was riding high after destroying Errol Spence Jr. in a long-awaited fight, but he followed it up with a less than convincing decision win against the Uzbek Israil Madrimov, creating doubt around his ability to beat the bigger Álvarez.
Bud quickly showed he was not scared of Álvarez’s power. Bud cruised to victory, outclassing Álvarez with his boxing ability and despite his size disadvantage had total control the entire fight.
With this win, Crawford has cemented himself as an all-time great, putting himself in the conversation with legends like Manny Pacquiao and Mayweather as the greatest fighter to come out of the lighter weight classes.
