The Big Lead

Boxing's next megafight set for September in Las Vegas

By Joe Lago

Sep 17, 2022; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Canelo Alvarez (red trunks) and Gennadiy Golovkin (white trunks) box during a middleweight championship bout at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images
Sep 17, 2022; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Canelo Alvarez (red trunks) and Gennadiy Golovkin (white trunks) box during a middleweight championship bout at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images / Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images
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Terence Crawford apparently will get his dream fight after all.

Crawford, a consensus top-three pick on boxing's pound-for-pound lists, and Canelo Alvarez, the sport's pay-per-view king and a fellow top-10 pound-for-pound selection, have an agreement in place for a September megafight in Las Vegas, The Ring Magazine reported on Monday.

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ESPN's Mike Coppinger reported that the bout for Alvarez's four world titles at super middleweight (168 pounds) will take place on Sept. 13.

No contracts have been signed, but the fight is being organized by boxing's new power broker — Turki Alalshikh, the deal-making chairman of Saudi Arabia's General Entertainment Authority. Alalshikh promoted Crawford's last fight in August, when the Omaha, Nebraska native defeated Ismail Madrimov to win the WBA junior middleweight crown (154 pounds).

The matchup of Crawford (41-0, 31 knockouts) and Alvarez (62-2-2, 39 KOs) is the career-defining championship bout the former had been seeking since becoming the unified welterweight champion.

The 37-year-old Crawford left the 147-pound division and his four world title belts to begin his climb up weight classes and gain a shot at fighting the 34-year-old Alvarez. Crawford will now attempt to make the ambitious jump from 154 pounds to 168 pounds in what The Ring Magazine called "the most difficult fight of his 17-year professional career."

Alvarez vs. Crawford will be the main event of a Riyadh Season show, the crowd-pleasing fight cards put on by Alalshikh that have created some of boxing's best matchups. Both Crawford and Alvarez must be intrigued by the legacy fight potential, but they're also probably enamored by the payday Alalshikh can provide.

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