In the opinion of some boxing people, the upcoming super middleweight title fight between Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford – which has, according to multiple reports, been moved a day, from September 12 to September 13 – is the biggest fight in the sport right now. In this fight, we will see four-division champ Crawford go for history, this as he moves up to 168 pounds to challenge the unified champ.
Plenty of people say “Bud” is just too small to be able to be competitive, much less win here, while others say Crawford is such a special talent he will be able to pull it off. A good many of us are intrigued and excited about the upcoming fight.
De La Hoya rips both stars—“How is this the biggest fight?”
But Oscar De La Hoya, who of course used to promote Canelo, and was friendly with him until their well-documented falling out, has really torn into the September showdown. Taking to X to let his feelings be known a few hours ago, De La Hoya said both Canelo and Crawford have been “exposed” recently and that this fight is in no way the biggest in boxing.
Here is what De La Hoya wrote:
“So hear me out Crawford will be 38 and Canelo is 35. Crawford hasn’t fought in a year and got exposed by [Israil] Madrimov IMO. Canelo has been getting exposed for the past few years. Can anyone please explain to me how this is the ‘biggest fight in boxing?’”
It’s true Madrimov gave Crawford a tough night’s work, but as far as “expose him?” No. And yes, Canelo looked quite poor in his last fight, this in the snoozer with a staggeringly reluctant William Scull, but prior to that, Canelo looked pretty good against Edgar Berlanga, and before that against Jaime Munguia; even if the Mexican star failed to score a stoppage in either fight.
Is Canelo-Crawford past its sell-by date—or still top 2?
Okay, both Canelo, 63-2-2(39) and Crawford, 41-0(31) are past their peak, their prime, but it’s still a fascinating matchup we have here. Would De La Hoya be tearing into the fight the way he is if he were promoting it?
You could argue that the July rematch between Oleksandr Usyk and Daniel Dubois, for all four world heavyweight titles, is the biggest fight in boxing right now. But is Canelo-Crawford the second biggest fight today?