History.
It’s a simple term that takes seven letters to spell, fewer than 10 seconds to write, and only a moment to say, but years upon years to create. Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Terence Crawford have spent a combined 37 years rising through the ranks, grinding out victories against contenders, and racking up world titles en route to this moment.
On Saturday, September 13, 2025, Crawford and Alvarez will do something that Floyd Mayweather Jr., Manny Pacquiao, Andre Ward, and other legends of the modern era have been unable to do — compete for an undisputed world title in a stadium full of more than 70,000 screaming fans in Las Vegas. Both men will walk away with a career-high payday for their efforts to bring the sport of boxing to the forefront of North American pop culture, but that’s not why either one of them took this fight.
“This fight is about cementing my place in history,” Crawford told BBC Sport.
The phrase “daring to be great” is often used when a fighter takes a riskier-than-advised fight against a respected, aggressive foe, but what the Omaha native is attempting to do goes far beyond, rivaling the likes of Sugar Ray Leonard and Sugar Ray Robinson. Like the great welterweights of generations past, the pound-for-pound pugilist, he has accomplished seemingly all there is to accomplish. He is the first man to win undisputed titles in two weight classes during the four-belt era. He is the first man (and to date, the only) to beat former pound-for-pound unified champion Errol Spence Jr. He’s never met a challenge that he wasn’t ready to tackle, and tonight, things will be no different. A win? He joins the likes of Leonard, Roy Jones Jr., Oleksandr Usyk, and even his opponent, Canelo Alvarez, on the short list of all-time greats who have jumped up multiple weight classes in search of a world title.
Six months after he beat Daniel Jacobs to defend his unified middleweight title, Canelo Alvarez jumped up 15 pounds and two weight classes to challenge and eventually dethrone light heavyweight titleholder Sergey Kovalev. Approximately six years later, he finds himself attempting to defend his title against another champion, jumping up 14 pounds in weight. However, as he will remind any doubters, Alvarez is not the 36-year-old Kovalev that he challenged back in 2019. Following a series of performances against Jaime Munguia, Edgar Berlanga, and Williams Scull that have left fans wanting more, the champion from Guadalajara is ready to prove that he hasn’t lost a step. In fact, his trainer, Eddy Reynoso, believes the version of Alvarez that steps in the ring tonight may be the best yet.
“He still has it, and on Saturday we are going to show it by knockout,” said Reynoso, per The Ring Magazine. “This is going to be the best Canelo we have seen in his 20-year career. We’re going to show it.”
The time for talking has passed. The time for showing, as Reynoso mentioned, is now. Allegiant Stadium is full, Netflix is on, and Def Pen will be providing live updates from the main card throughout the night.
Mohammed Alakel (5-0, 1 KOs) Travis Crawford (7-4, 2 KOs)
Rounds: Six
Division: Super Featherweight
Decision: TBD
Def Pen Unofficial Scorecard: TBD
Post-Fight Commentary: TBD
Christian Mbilli (29-0, 24 KOs) v. Lester Martinez (19-0, 16 KOs)
Rounds: Ten
Division: Super Middleweight
Decision: TBD
Def Pen Unofficial Scorecard: TBD
Post-Fight Commentary: TBD
Callum Walsh (14-0, 11 KOs) v. Fernando Vargas Jr. (17-0, 15 KOs)
Rounds: Twelve
Division: Super Welterweight
Decision: TBD
Def Pen Unofficial Scorecard: TBD
Post-Fight Commentary: TBD
Rounds: Twelve
Division: Super Middleweight
Decision: TBD
Def Pen Unofficial Scorecard: TBD
Post-Fight Commentary: TBD
