Nobody will ever accuse Netflix of putting on the best fights in boxing. But since deciding to swim in boxing’s murky waters for the first time in 2024, Netflix has undoubtedly become the home of the biggest events in the sport.
On September 13, the streaming giant actually found itself occupying both lanes for a change. The super-middleweight championship fight between Terence “Bud” Crawford and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez was not only a massive mainstream attraction that briefly stood the sweet science at the center of the sporting universe, but it was also a serious fight, contested at the highest skill level imaginable.
It was North American boxing’s biggest star of the past decade versus North American boxing’s best fighter of the past decade. And you can remove the word “North American” from both ends of that equation and still have it arguably be accurate.
Headlining the first ever boxing card at Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium, Alvarez-Crawford attracted the second largest indoor crowd in US boxing history, drawing 70,482, who collectively paid $47.2 million for their tickets – the third-highest gate in the sport’s history behind only Floyd Mayweather’s bouts against Manny Pacquiao and Conor McGregor.
According to Netflix, more than 41 million viewers tuned in to some portion of the event, including a peak number of 24 million concurrent streams. Netflix has proven the best way in the current moment to get eyeballs on the prize ring — the polar opposite of staging fights on pay-per-view and creating a financial barrier to entry. And in this case, Netflix drew those eyeballs for a serious contest featuring two active future first-ballot hall of famers and zero social media influencers.
If there was one gimmicky element to the affair, it was the weight differential. Alvarez came into the fight the lineal super-middleweight champion, Crawford a beltholder two divisions below at junior middleweight.
But it was nevertheless a perfectly logical fight for both men from a pure sporting perspective. If Canelo was not interested in defending against David Benavidez – and, clearly, he was not – Crawford was as credible a challenger as anyone else out there. And from Bud’s point of view, Alvarez represented both the ultimate challenge and the ultimate paycheck.
And any concerns that it might be a size mismatch in Canelo’s favor were quickly dispelled.
Not that scintillating skill or a competitive, fan-friendly bout are required when deciding if something is the event of the year, but it certainly doesn’t hurt for the mega-fight in question to deliver such elements. Alvarez-Crawford was by no means a contender for fight of the year (it wasn’t even the fight of the night, thanks to a rip-roaring slugfest on the undercard between Christian Mbilli and Lester Martinez), but it was a damned fine 12 rounds of high-class pugilism just the same. And it offered drama down the stretch; fairly or not, Crawford needed to win the last two rounds to become super-middleweight champion.
Fortunately for Bud and for boxing, he did just that, winning closely but unanimously and avoiding a controversial decision that would have sullied the entire evening. Boxing’s loaded gun is often pointed directly at its own feet, but on this night, no shots were fired – aside, of course, from those uncorked by Crawford and Alvarez throughout their 12 fierce rounds.
That it may stand as the final fight in the undefeated career of all-time great Crawford, if his recently announced retirement stands, only makes the event that much more historic.
Either way, this was boxing at just about its finest, and at just about its biggest and most meaningful. Crawford-Alvarez was a real fight, between iconic champions, and it was fought on as grand a stage as anyone could have hoped for.
Honorable mentions
Anthony Joshua-Jake Paul
This is the other side of the Netflix boxing coin.
The bout in Miami, Florida on December 19, between former heavyweight champ Joshua and cruiserweight master marketer Paul, drew almost as robust an audience as Crawford-Alvarez – according to Netflix, an estimated average minute audience of 33 million Live+1 viewers globally, just shy of Bud and Canelo’s 36 million.
In the ring, it was a farce, of course. Paul used his legs excessively, Joshua didn’t use his arms enough, and it dragged all the way into the sixth round before “AJ” finally delivered the right hand that broke Paul’s jaw and ended the embarrassment.
But boxing again proved its unique ability to attract massive crowds of rubberneckers for its freak show events on a scale no other sport can match.
Chris Eubank Jnr-Conor Benn
A British boxing party about three decades in the making, the sons of ‘90s rivals Chris Eubank Snr and Nigel Benn met for the first of two times in 2025 on April 26 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, and attracted a boisterous announced crowd of 67,484.
Starting with the moment the senior Eubank, previously estranged from his son, arrived at the arena (shown on the stadium’s video screens to massive cheers), through the emotional ring walks, through all 12 hard-fought rounds in an instant entrant in the fight-of-the-year conversation, this event delivered all the #feels. In the end, Eubank prevailed by three scores of 116-112.
The rematch seven months later didn’t capture the same magic, because Benn evened the score in a lopsided manner in front of nearly as large a crowd in the same stadium. Lightning did not strike twice. But the first one was a magnificent jolt to boxing in the UK and beyond.
The Last Crescendo Saudi supercard
No other boxing event in 2025 came close to the depth of this card on February 22 in Riyadh. Dmitriy Bivol-Artur Beterbiev II was the headliner, supported by Joseph Parker spanking late sub Martin Bakole, Vergil Ortiz outfighting Israil Madrimov, Agit Kabayel overwhelming Zhilei Zhang, Shakur Stevenson proving far too much for game replacement opponent Josh Padley, a controversial draw between Carlos Adames and Hamzah Sheeraz, and Callum Smith outpointing Joshua Buatsi in a tremendous scrap.
Nobody had a clue then or even now as to what “The Last Crescendo” means, but we all know an entertaining all-day boxing card when we see one.
Katie Taylor-Amanda Serrano III
The Madison Square Garden trilogy-capper that on July 11 headlined by far the biggest all-women’s boxing card ever was a fistic dud – especially in comparison to their first two fights, which were quite possibly the two greatest bouts in the history of the women’s side of the sport. But there was no denying the magnitude of this event.
Netflix said Taylor’s points victory pulled in nearly 6 million global viewers, making it the most-watched professional women’s sporting event of 2025.
The return of Manny Pacquiao
The boxing world had mixed feelings about the Filipino living legend stepping back into the ring for the first time in four years, one month after his International Boxing Hall of Fame induction. But in fighting to a 12-round draw against Mario Barrios on July 19, Pacquiao justified the enthusiasm of those wanting to watch him flash his fists one more time while he defied the expectations of those who were consumed by fear for his health.
And whatever the outcome, having Pacquiao’s name on the marquee at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas again automatically qualified this as one of boxing’s biggest nights of the year.
Ricky Hatton’s funeral
This wasn’t a boxing event in the traditional sense. But on October 10, thousands of mourners lined the streets in Manchester, England, as a funeral procession for the beloved “Hitman” made its way through town toward Manchester Cathedral – drawing grieving fight fans, British boxing’s biggest names and scores of celebrities from outside the boxing world.
And in last place …
No, we don’t normally single out a “last place” in our year-end award categories, but we’ll make an exception here to recognize the dismal May 2 “Fatal Fury” pay-per-view card visible to a crowd of just a couple hundred VIPs in New York City’s Times Square. The organization of the event offered maximum chaos, whereas inside the ring, the good kind of chaos was in short supply.
ICYMI: Other BoxingScene 2025 year-end award winners
Still to come…
Upset of the year
Promoter of the year
Disappointment of the year
Eric Raskin is a veteran boxing journalist with nearly 30 years of experience covering the sport for such outlets as BoxingScene, ESPN, Grantland, Playboy, and The Ring (where he served as managing editor for seven years). He also co-hosted The HBO Boxing Podcast, Showtime Boxing with Raskin & Mulvaney, The Interim Champion Boxing Podcast with Raskin & Mulvaney, and Ring Theory. He has won three first-place writing awards from the BWAA, for his work with The Ring, Grantland, and HBO. Outside boxing, he is the senior editor of CasinoReports and the author of 2014’s The Moneymaker Effect. He can be reached on X, BlueSky, or LinkedIn, or via email at RaskinBoxing@yahoo.com.
