The first press conference to kick off boxing’s first non-heavyweight superfight in years might have been expected to feature more trash talk.
But on Friday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Terence Crawford seemed almost peripheral to their upcoming fight. Yes, they are the figures who will do battle on September 13. Their bout will stream on Netflix, be viewed by millions of viewers and prove a significant boon to the already glittering legacy of the winner.
But it was Saudi Arabian adviser and boxing power broker Turki Alalshikh who first took center stage – literally, as he sat closer to moderator Todd Grisham and spoke sooner than either fighter.
In total, five media questions were taken by Grisham – all of them were for Alalshikh, giving the most powerful non-fighting figure in boxing plenty of time to make hopeful projections of a partnership with Netflix, once again decry “Tom and Jerry boxing” and detail where he planned to have breakfast with UFC head and new co-promoter Dana White on September 13.
Alalshikh did say that he thinks Canelo-Crawford, for Canelo’s undisputed super middleweight title, would be one of the best fights of the past decade. He also said he wanted “smashing face and blood” in his fights. Someone needs to tell him that Crawford and Canelo are both counterpunchers.
After answering the fifth question, Alalshikh took his leave from the stage and Grisham turned to the fighters, who had sat silently through the entire episode.
The crux of this matchup is that Crawford, who did his best work at welterweight, is jumping up two weight classes to meet Alvarez, an undisputed, longtime super middle. As in virtually all of his promotions, Crawford, 41-0 (31 KOs), seemed unconcerned.
“I thought my fight was a clear-cut victory,” he said of his last performance, a surprisingly close unanimous decision win over Israil Madrimov at 154lbs. “It may have not been what the fans is used to seeing in that I was on a KO streak. I’m cool with my performance.”
Crawford also offered piecemeal analysis on how to handle the judges, who tend to turn in notoriously Canelo-friendly scorecards in Vegas (he can only control what he can control and win the fight decisively, he said); and Canelo’s iron chin, which hasn’t been seriously tested in years (“Given the right circumstances, anyone can get knocked out,” he said).
Grisham soon ran out of things to ask the cool, cripplingly confident Crawford and took to querying who would win in a street fight. “Come on, man,” Crawford said with a laugh.
Alvarez, meanwhile, shed responsibility for his low-action unanimous decision win over William Scull in May, calling the fight a “deception” and blaming Scull for the lack of exchanges.
Canelo clearly thinks more highly of Crawford. He paid “Bud” plenty of respect, noting that he would be one of his toughest opponents to date. Canelo still isn’t remotely concerned about the possibility of a loss, however. Asked if a defeat would damage his brand, Canelo said, “He’s not gonna beat me. Don’t worry about it.” That made Crawford grin.
“For sure, them belts coming with me,” Crawford replied. “I’m taking them. And ain’t nothing you gonna be able to do about it fight night.”
Soon after, Rick Reeno – chief operating officer of Ring Magazine – stalked onto the stage with a black felt bag and pulled out a gleaming, glitzy belt. Reeno announced that a UK-based company (which he did not name) that makes bling for royalty had designed the belt – for the cool cost of £140,000 (or roughly $190,000). That price tag will pale in comparison to what both fighters are making for this bout.
The event concluded with a staredown, which, despite the lack of animosity between the fighters, felt palpably intense. Though Crawford is lankier and Canelo is stronger and denser, their eyes were almost exactly level. Though Crawford will be risking his undefeated record and Canelo is wagering defeat against a man who is naturally far smaller than he is, neither looked remotely fazed by the stakes or the opponent. You’d expect nothing less.
Owen Lewis is a freelance writer with bylines at Defector Media and The Guardian. He is also a writer and editor at BoxingScene. His beats are tennis, boxing, books, travel and anything else that satisfies his meager attention span. He is on and can be contacted at [email protected].