When is Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford?

Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford is on Saturday, September 13. The main broadcast will begin at 9 p.m. Eastern Time (2 a.m. BST). 

What channel is Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford on?

The main Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford card will stream on Netflix. The preliminary undercard will stream on Netflix’s Tudum.

Where is Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford?

The fight is taking place at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Who is Canelo Alvarez?

Canelo Alvarez, 63-2-2 (39 KOs), is the best super middleweight in the world, the two-time undisputed super middleweight champion with all four world titles. He came to 168lbs after previously being the Ring Magazine champion at 154lbs and the Ring and lineal champ at 160lbs,

Canelo won his first world title in 2011, at the age of 20, outpointing Matthew Hatton for a vacant belt. A unanimous decision over Austin Trout in 2013 earned him recognition from The Ring. One bout later, a 23-year-old Canelo suffered his first pro defeat against Floyd Mayweather Jnr. Afterward, Canelo notched victories against Alfredo Angulo, Erislandy Lara and James Kirkland.

Toward the end of 2015, Canelo added a championship in his second weight class, dethroning Miguel Cotto to become the middleweight king. In 2017, Canelo kicked off what would become a trilogy with Gennadiy Golovkin. Their first fight ended in a draw. Their rematch was delayed when Canelo tested positive for a banned performance-enhancing drug, a test that Canelo argued came from the prevalence of that substance in beef cattle in Mexico. Canelo-Golovkin II took place in September 2018, and once again the scoring was close; this time the judges gave Canelo the narrow nod via majority decision.

Canelo then began testing the waters in heavier weight classes. He plowed through Rocky Fielding for a secondary super middleweight belt in late 2018; dropped back down to middleweight for one final defense there, a unanimous decision over Daniel Jacobs in May 2019, then leaped to light heavyweight and knocked Sergey Kovalev cold in the 11th round in November 2019.

Next came Canelo’s impressive run through all three titleholders at 168lbs to become undisputed in the span of less than 11 months. He beat up Callum Smith over 12 rounds in December 2020 to take Smith’s WBA and Ring titles as well as the vacant WBC belt. After making a quick mandatory defense against Avni Yildirim, Canelo stopped Billy Joe Saunders in May 2021 for the WBO belt and Caleb Plant in November 2021 for the IBF.

Canelo then returned to 175 but fell short against Dmitry Bivol in May 2022 – no shame in losing to a titleholder of Bivol’s caliber, and that loss should sting even less now that Bivol has gone on to become undisputed at light heavyweight.

But in the three years since, Canelo has simultaneously remained the clear best at 168 without wowing people with his selection of opposition, especially during the period in which David Benavidez was still at super middleweight and awaiting the shot he’d earned.

Instead of facing Benavidez, Canelo opted to wrap up the Golovkin trilogy, beat John Ryder in a homecoming bout in Mexico, defeated undisputed junior middleweight champion Jermell Charlo, and gave contenders Jaime Munguia and Edgar Berlanga their first defeats. Canelo was stripped of the IBF belt for taking on Berlanga instead of mandatory contender William Scull, but he regained the title earlier this year with a decision over Scull after 12 frustrating rounds – frustrating for Canelo as well as for many of us watching.

All six of those fights went the distance. Some fans and observers have wondered whether Canelo, now 35 years old and with 20 years of professional prizefighting behind him, is showing signs of fading. They point to his lack of knockouts, as well as his inability to cut off the ring against Scull, though to be fair, other greats have struggled to land against opponents whose primary purpose was moving their feet and not their hands.

In terms of the results, Canelo remains the top talent at super middleweight. And in terms of the business, Canelo remains a superstar. His stardom is one reason why this event is on Netflix and will be seen by a far larger audience than would otherwise be the case on pay-per-view. 

As for his talent? He easily managed younger top 10 foes in Munguia and Berlanga. He was too strong for Charlo, the last foe to move up two divisions to challenge him.

But Terence Crawford is unlike any of those names.

Who is Terence Crawford?

Terence Crawford, like Canelo Alvarez, is a four-division titleholder and pound-for-pound talent who has been the true champion in three weight classes. Despite all he has accomplished, however, the biggest fights and paydays long eluded him. That is why, at nearly 38 years old, Crawford, 41-0 (31 KOs), is moving up 14lbs from one of the deepest divisions in boxing to face Canelo. A win would be the crowning achievement of Crawford's career. At bare minimum, he will significantly pad his bank account.

Crawford impressed when he stepped in on late notice for an HBO show in 2013, dominating Breidis Prescott at 140lbs. He then returned to lightweight and was regularly featured on the premium cable outlet. Crawford won his first world title with a decision over Ricky Burns in 2014. He fought twice more that year, stopping the then-unbeaten Yuriorkis Gamboa and nearly shutting out Ray Beltran to add the Ring championship.

Crawford then moved up to junior welterweight and kicked off a lengthy streak of knockout wins. The first victim was Thomas Dulorme, earning Crawford the vacant WBO world title in April 2015. In July 2016, Crawford outpointed undefeated Viktor Postol to add the WBC belt and Ring championship. And in August 2017, Crawford needed less than three rounds to finish off unbeaten Julius Indongo to add the remaining two titles, becoming undisputed. In total, Crawford’s time at 140lbs featured seven title fights.

The theme continued at welterweight. Crawford debuted there with an easy ninth-round TKO of Jeff Horn to acquire the WBO title in June 2018. That would be the only belt around his waist for another five years, given that Crawford’s promoter at the time was Top Rank, which had an exclusive network deal, while the other titleholders were with Premier Boxing Champions, which had its own network affiliations and obligations.

So Crawford spent his next several defenses against the likes of Jose Benavidez Jnr, Amir Khan, Egidijus Kavaliauskas and Kell Brook. Shawn Porter, a PBC fighter, no longer held a world title but was otherwise still a top contender when he fought Crawford in November 2021. The official scorecards were close going into the 10th round. Crawford was told between rounds that Porter might be up, and so he immediately went out, dropped Porter twice and scored the TKO win.

Crawford ultimately parted with Top Rank and tried to take advantage of his free agency to make a fight with the man who now held the remaining three titles, Errol Spence. When they couldn’t reach an agreement, Crawford returned in December 2022 and dispatched David Avanesyan.

Finally, in 2023, Crawford and Spence reached a deal. And Spence went down like the rest.

That July night was a coming-out party for Crawford, who dominated the other top welterweight like Secretariat pulling away against the rest of the field. Crawford dropped Spence three times and finished him in the ninth round. Once again, he was undisputed.

And so ended Crawford’s reign at 147lbs. Another eight title fights, all won by knockout.

His knockout streak ended in his next outing, though his winning streak didn’t, in August 2024 against WBA junior middleweight titleholder Israil Madrimov. It was the closest action in a Crawford fight since the Porter bout. Crawford triumphed via unanimous decision.

Instead of aiming once again for unification bouts or to defend against any of a number of solid contenders, Crawford is facing Canelo at 168lbs. He’s had more than a year to add the weight, and one imagines his team used that time to figure out how much weight to add without sacrificing the speed advantage that a lighter man typically has in the ring.

We don’t know how Crawford will look at super middleweight. We didn’t really have enough to judge how he would perform at junior middleweight; boxers sometimes need more than one fight to acclimate to new weight classes.

What we do know is that Terence Crawford has the skills, technique, intelligence and drive needed to win. He took this fight because it was the biggest payday, but he’s not going to show up just for the paycheck. 

Yes, Crawford is once again rising up in weight. He’s also made a career of rising to the occasion.

What other fights are on the undercard of Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford?

The most notable bouts on the main undercard are Christian Mbilli vs. Lester Martinez in an interim super middleweight title bout, and Callum Walsh vs. Fernando Vargas Jnr in a battle of unbeaten junior middleweights.

Mbilli, 29-0 (24 KOs), won the interim WBC belt in June with a first-round TKO of Maciej Sulecki. Before that, he outpointed longtime bridesmaid Sergiy Derevyanchenko in August 2024. Martinez, 19-0 (16 KOs), is coming off a unanimous decision over Carlos Gongora last year and a fourth-round KO of prospect Joeshon James this past March.

Walsh, 14-0 (11 KOs), is the house fighter and the betting favorite. His matches have been featured regularly on UFC Fight Pass and he is backed by UFC head honcho Dana White, who is promoting Canelo-Crawford. Vargas, 17-0 (15 KOs), is one of the fighting sons of his namesake, the former junior middleweight titleholder.  

There is also a preliminary undercard streaming on Netflix’s Tudum. The most interesting fight on that part of the show is a rematch between junior middleweight contender Serhii Bohachuk, 26-2 (24 KOs), and Brandon Adams, 25-4 (16 KOs). 

Bohachuk and Adams first fought in 2021; Bohachuk was ahead on the scorecards when Adams stopped him in the eighth round. Bohachuk has gone 8-1 since, the other loss coming in a closely contested battle with Vergil Ortiz last year. Adams spent three years out of the ring before returning in April 2024. He won two bouts before dropping a split decision to Andreas Katzourakis in November.

Also, heavyweight prospect Ivan Dychko will face Jermaine Franklin Jnr. Dychko, 15-0 (14 KOs), is a two-time Olympic bronze medalist who lost in those tournaments to eventual gold medal winner Anthony Joshua in 2012 and eventual silver medal winner Joe Joyce in 2016. Since turning pro in 2017, Dychko has not advanced far in terms of level of opposition. He boxed just once apiece in 2022, 2023 and 2024, and his first appearance of 2025 was a 75-second victory in July over former club-level cruiserweight Samuel Crossed.

Franklin, 23-2 (15 KOs), lost back-to-back bouts to Dillian Whyte by majority decision in 2022 and the aforementioned Joshua by unanimous decision in 2023. He’s only fought twice since and was last seen in May 2024, when he stopped Devin Vargas after six rounds.

The full list of undercard fights can be seen on BoxRec.

David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.