Turki Sets Date: Canelo Vs. Crawford On September 13th Amid Venue Hunt

Turki Alalshikh has moved the Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford fight to September 13th. Depending on the best deal, the location will be one of five. Thus far, the potential locations are Las Vegas, New York, and Los Angeles. It was previously rumored to be staged at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. It’s unclear what kind of deal Turki wants for the Canelo vs. Crawford landing spot. Whoever lands it will be bending over backward to host it.

(Credit: Geoffrey Knott/Matchroom)

Date Shift

Mike Coppinger revealed the news of Turtki moving the Canelo-Crawford fight to a new day. Alvarez (62-2-2, 39 KOs) will defend his undisputed super middleweight championship that he just won on May 3rd in a lackluster win over William Scull.

Fans are largely indifferent about the move of the clash from September 12th to the 13th. It’s not a big deal for it to be moved one day. We’re assuming neither of these two aging fighters suffers injuries during training camp that require a postponement. These aren’t spring chickens we’re talking about.

“It’s made that big fight with Canelo and Crawford. That’s the one that everyone wants to see now,” said Amir Khan to Little Giant Boxing, overlooking the real fight that fans want to see between Alvarez and David Benavidez.

“It’s two pound-for-pound fighters. Who is going to be #1? Who do I got? It’s hard to say because Canelo is the bigger guy, but Crawford is more skillful and is also strong. I’ve been in the ring with both of the guys. I didn’t get much success with Crawford, but I got more success with Canelo. I was probably up in the fight against Canelo, but I was down on points with Canelo.

Khan fought Canelo a long time ago. It’s difficult to imagine him having any success against the vintage version of the Mexican star. Even this version of Canelo would have been a nightmare for Khan if he had fought him back in 2016.

“It’s a hard one to call, really. It’s a 50-50 fight, but it’s a good fight. Both guys are looking unbeaten, and someone is going to get beat. I’m on the bench,” said Khan when asked to pick between Canelo and Crawford.

Sporting Value?

Most of the issues people have about Canelo fighting the 37-year-old junior middleweight Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) are that it’s a gimmick fight, lacking legitimacy, designed to create publicity but without any sporting value. Crawford is nearing 40, will have been inactive for over a year, has never fought at 168, and has no intentions of staying in the division afterward. If boxing veers toward novelty fights, how long before it transforms into a fake, non-sport?

Canelo resembled a 40+ year-old in his last fight, laboring to a 12-round decision over William Scull. Alvarez only offered up a measly 152 punches, landing 56. Crawford looked almost as bad, winning a questionable 12-round decision over Israil Madrimov on August 3rd.

Bud appeared to be functioning at 60% of what he’d been in his previous fight 13 months earlier, against Errol Spence in 2023. It shows you the downside of what happens when fighters take a year off between fights for four consecutive years. Their skills erode, and aging sets in. It’s too bad Turki hadn’t made it a condition for Canelo and Crawford to both test themselves against David Benavidez to determine their suitability for what he refers to as “the big fight.”