LAS VEGAS (AP) — It’s seemingly Canelo Alvarez’s world, and everyone else is simply living in it.
As the debate about who’s the best pound-for-pound fighter remains fervent, Alvarez has played the role of the face of boxing well leading up to Saturday’s undisputed super middleweight bout against Terence Crawford at 65,000-seat Allegiant Stadium.
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The Mexican superstar, who has represented his country with pride and grace in a near 20-year career, strolled across the red carpet for Tuesday’s grand entrance, answered some questions, held an invite-only media availability that ended six questions in, and skipped Wednesday’s media day.
The ginger-haired, freckle-faced future Hall of Famer has a 63-2-2 career record with 39 knockouts, including notable wins over Shane Mosley, Amir Khan, Julio César Chávez Jr. and Gennady Golovkin.
Saul “Canelo” Alvaraz, who holds the distinction of being the first fighter in history to unify all four major titles at super middleweight, has never improvised or skimmed his way through 67 tales of the tape. He’s built his stature with nothing less than a hardcore work ethic and staunch discipline.
His legacy has been built brick by brick, or, belt by belt, on some of the biggest stages.
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Saturday, the face of boxing faces his biggest test on the biggest stage.
Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) is moving up two weight classes and presents a challenge Alvarez hasn’t seen in quite some time, quite possibly ever. That includes Alvarez’s first career defeat at the hands of Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2013.
Alvarez has also never been knocked down in his professional career, and Crawford is someone who many believe has the power to introduce Canelo to the canvas.
As boisterous as Alvarez deservedly could be, considering his status and what he’s done to keep boxing relevant during a time mixed martial arts has surpassed the squared circle in popularity, he remained humble about the event that will be broadcast on Netflix without a pay-per-view purchase for subscribers.
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“I’ve been in big fights, many big fights, but this fight especially is different,” Alvarez said. “You can see the magnitude of the fight.
“Everything around the fight, you can see how big it is. For me, it means a lot, this fight.”
Alvarez is priced at -175 at BetMGM Sportsbook, with Crawford bringing back +175. That means a bettor would have to lay $175 to win $100 on Alvarez. A $100 wager on Crawford would pay $135.
Alvarez is fresh off a victory over William Scull on May 3, when he reclaimed his undisputed status at 168 pounds.
Crawford hasn’t fought since Aug. 24, when he defeated Israil Madrimov in Los Angeles. But it was the fight prior that reminded everyone Crawford’s name is still in the pound-for-pound conversation, when he knocked Errol Spence Jr. down in the second, twice in the seventh, and won by stoppage in the ninth.
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The same confidence he took into the Spence fight is the same assurance and determination he’s bringing into what he’s called the biggest fight of his life, despite being the underdog.
“I’ve been told I’d never be where I am at now,” Crawford said. “I was told I need to get another job because I wasn’t going to be a world champion.
“I’m going to be victorious. And everybody is going to talk about it on Sunday.”
And why wouldn’t they, with a win over the guy considered to be the face of boxing, in what’s seemingly his world?
“I’m going to bring this fight to America because I think this kind of fight is (big),” Alvarez said. “I just want to tell the people to enjoy this fight because it’s huge.”
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AP boxing: https://apnews.com/hub/boxing
