A fascinating super fight fills Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas this Saturday night, as Terence Crawford bids for greatness, and to become undisputed super middleweight champion against Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez.
Netflix televise the Canelo Alvarez vs Crawford card live.
Alvarez (63-2-2, KO39) has seen and done it all, and at 35, has recently become content to box twice a year.
A world champion from super welterweight to light heavyweight, the Mexican has fought a who’s who of champions, and since his last defeat in a bid for the WBA light heavyweight title in a points loss to Dmitrii Bivol in 2022, he has returned to super middleweight to record six straight wins.
He has largely gone through the motions of late, dropping and then outscoring John Ryder, Jermell Charlo, Jamie Munguia and Edgar Berlanga in defence of his undisputed crown.
Alvarez was las in action in May, taking a points win against William Scull in Riyadh.
Crawford (41-0, KO31) has made a gradual step up the weights, having first tasted world title glory in March 2014, taking the WBO lightweight title in a points win against Ricky Burns in Glasgow.
After two defences he would become WBO champion at super lightweight, and would eventually clean the division out, knocking Julius Indongo out in three in August 2017 to complete the four-belt collection.
Welterweight would be next, making six defences of the WBO strap before taking undisputed glory in a masterful ninth-round stoppage of Errol Spence Jr in July 2023.
The Nebraskan was last out in August last year, taking a close points win against Israil Madrimov to become WBA champion.
Prediction: This is a top-tier match-up, and could be very cagey stuff early on. If Crawford can use his speed and movement to good effect, I lean towards him taking a close points win.
Christain Mbili vs Lester Martinez
Christian Mbili (29-0, KO24) could be in line for the winner of the main event, and the Frenchman based in Canada is coming off a first round win against Maciej Sulecki in June.
Prediction: He can defend his WBC interim super middleweight title with a stoppage of the unbeaten Guatemalan, Lester Martinez (19-0, KO16).
Jermaine Franklin vs Ivan Dychko
An interesting meeting at heavyweight could well see Jermaine Franklin (23-2, KO15) end the unbeaten record of former two-time Olympic Bronze medallist, Ivan Dychko (15-0, KO14) with the Kazakh taking a big step up in class.
Prediction: I think Franklin can take an upset stoppage win.
Remaining undercard
At super welterweight, Serhii Bohachuk (26-2, KO24) may need the distance to see off former world title challenger Brandon Adams (25-4. KO16), and Callum Walsh (14-0, KO11) can take the battle of the unbeatens against Fernando Vargas (17-0, KO15).
Steven Nelson (20-1, KO16) is coming off a points loss to Diego Pacheco in January, and he can return to winning ways with a points win over Raiko Santana (12-4, KO6) at super middleweight, and at super featherweight, Mohammed Alakel (5-0, KO1) can be a points winner in his first ten-rounder against Travis Kent Crawford (7-4, KO2).
In six-rounders, Reito Tsutsumi (2-0, KO1) can halt Javier Martinez (7-2, KO4) in their super featherweight meeting, and at middleweight, Marco Verde Alvarez (2-0, KO1) can win on the cards against Sona Akale (9-3, KO4).
In the only four-rounder, Sultan Almohamed can debit with a points win against Martin Caraballo (0-0-1) at super featherweight.
