Boxing

In the wild weekend with Canelo Alvarez and Terenka Crawford

Published

1 year ago

June 25, 2025

The rain feels Like stinging a needle on umbrellas and faces on Sunday morning in Recent York. And yet Canelo Alvarez is wearing sunglasses.

It is at the second stage of the route with three night to promote his mega fights against Terenka Crawford on September 13. Most of the gathered media at the center of Javits shake or saying goodbye to the umbrellas of rain over Recent York on the day over 80 degrees in June always seems to have some extra mustard on them.

But Alvarez is arid and shiny. Earlier this morning he bought a novel shiny, special edition of Jacob & Co., watch slightly below $ 500,000, paid on the No-Max credit card. Maybe that’s why he needs sunglasses.

“Almost half a million,” he explains. But he has a gigantic, wide smile when he says. He is proud of his purchase.

He experiences about 30 minutes of enduring series of interviewers introducing themselves and then turning to the camera on the face. So sunglasses begin to feel preventive health care of the eyes, not a fashionable statement, boredom or disguise of a hangover. The literal look, which is all day, is the nightmare of optometry.

Canelo does not smile often or is not animated during interviews. The only time he shows emotions is when he talks about Golf (man, Canelo Alvarez Golf). For the rest of the time he is a businessman who gives a fight, which, regardless of whether you already pass it or not, will be an critical moment in the life of sports fans, which will appear on September 13 in Netflix. This is Zuff’s first boxing event, promoted by Dan White, as part of the TKO brand. And it probably contains the two best, most critical era fighters to Mayweather. For die -hard fans who have gray hair or without hair at all because of how often the best boxers have spinning and never fought in the last 25 years, it is prophecy.

“It is so huge in the case of boxing,” says Canelo. “I am glad that I am involved in this kind of fighting that so many people see. Everyone has Netflix.”

Half an hour later, in a room 20 feet away, Crawford is even more subdued, making the same interview glove. And they both still have to make a press conference later this afternoon. It is hard to blame fighters for not breaking jokes and dancing for cameras. The whole group was in Saudi Arabia 48 hours earlier, and then flew to Recent York for this event at Fanatics Fest, and then everyone is to Las Vegas for the last stop on Friday.

It’s all business for them and based on one last photo, that’s how fans want.

pic.twitter.com/y9unnaw9h4

– Turki Alalshikh (@Turki_ALSHIKH) June 19, 2025

Photo Makes people very gross.

Turki Alalshikh, the man most responsible for making this fight, published a photo on X last Friday, which showed him at the head of the table with Crawford and Alvarez sitting opposite himself. Alalshikh, chairman of General Entertainment Authority and the president of boxing Saudi Arabia, called them to dinner of the Middle East to celebrate the start of the route after noise.

When this photo circled on Friday evening until Saturday, fans of the fight did not like it. They complained that Crawford and Canelo looked too chum, eating a table from each other.

Fans of sports fighters can be so stupid when it comes to how fighters should promote, compete, and then go further. In previous fighting, boxers should despise each other. Looks are mandatory and the appearance should kill. On the night of fighting, veterans should barely be able to refrain from starting violence. The fight should then be a constant show of fireworks, and blood is always welcome. After the fight, fighters should meet and embrace the hand, they can even hug once or twice. They should be sure to respect the whole team of the opposite warrior.

Dinner before a great fight? Scandalous.

But this is quite an unfair reaction. NFL players try to overthrow their ancient buddies to study for three hours on Sundays, and then replace the t -shirts. The bitter Playoff NHL series always ends with a hand embrace line and congratulations. Both elite fighters, Canelo and Crawford, probably deserve to be in favor of doubt that they will be able to sit on the table, and then try to overcome the living lights daytime two months later.

However, both fighters also said that the dinner together was a bit awkward. They once ate dinner for many years – and weight classes – ago. Crawford was once the undisputed 135-pound champion, and now he moves up to two more classes from 154 to 168 to face Alvarez. So during their first dinner they seemed to be two stars that would always go through at night.

However, here we are. On Sunday, both warriors claim that they have never eaten dinner with an opponent before and they will not do it again in the near future. Crawford had already ate before he reached dinner, so he spent an hour to enjoy food to be kind. Canelo did not eat much and admitted that he soon thought about hitting Crawford in the face. “I really don’t like it,” he tells me. “I don’t like to participate in my opponents. But let them tell you something: I saw him and I really want to punish him. I thought I was going to this guy.”

Alvarez has sunglasses when he says. But somehow it seemed that it could be said that he had bad intentions planned for September 13.

Press conference It opens an hour later with Michael Buffor on the stage. He is 80 years ancient now, but still looks quite royal and buffers. Fans drown out several times, but when he begins his beginning: “Are you ready?” Spiel leading to “Let’s get ready for rumbling”, it still seems that it hits 93 miles per hour on the radar gun.

The crowd is loud along the entire 30-minute press conference. Crawford has a clamorous minority in the audience. But this is a crowd of Canelo, like most is in boxing. Canelo is now 34 years ancient and had his debut pro boxing two years before the invention of the iPhone. Since around 2010, he has been retaining breath from the main boxers of events. In this way, he earned somewhere north of $ 500 million as a professional boxer and can afford a godfather’s watch. He earned money and masses.

Crawford comes out first. He mainly gets mockery, but some shouts break through the noise. He is an equally extraordinary athlete, after sending all 41 boxers he has ever met. And he is one of those fighters whose undefeated album still seems to underestimate its splendor. On a few occasions, when he has ever been hit, there is a tendency to immediately think that he had to slip or disperse something. It rarely seems harmful.

Canelo goes out a minute later, and sunglasses are still turned on when he sits down. The introduction of the buffer is completely swallowed by shouts. Intro is clearly 10-8 rounds for Canelo.

Crawford wins a press conference. He says little, but his words land, a bit similar to how he also chooses his places in the ring. At some point, Alvarez asks Alalshikha to reduce the ring to this fight so that Crawford cannot escape. Crawford starts immediately: “The only run I intend to do is to turn my head. And he also has a gigantic head.”

White and fighters deal with questions for about 15 minutes, and then the press conference ends in the announcement that the face will occur. White stands in the middle of the stage-he is an outstanding fighter in the history of combat sport. It looks like a T-shirt Canelo vs. Crawford. He deserves a black belt for his tough -earned ability to raise his hands in “the fish I caught was such a gigantic” position that keeps the fighters close enough to be in the same photo, but far enough to make sure that the fight will not take place for free a month before the actual fight.

The tables are cleaned as quickly as possible, and the fighters leave the opposite sides of the stage. This look occurs several times in the next six weeks, so there is a professional character for their repetitive theaters. Canelo and Crawford just sat calmly 20 feet from each other for 30 minutes. Now they should leave the stage, then march back and chest with anger in the eyes. Perhaps he will tranquil people who are very furious that they eat dinner together.

The fighters circled inside, and White is covered between them. But Crawford blows next to White and Canelo’s space. For the first time, Canelo shades are not on his face for the first time. Two fighters jaws for about five seconds, and then Canelo gives Crawford solid emphasis. Crawford returns towards him, and White tries to keep a distance between two warriors. White receives the legal appearance of “UH-OH” on the face during the fight, although most observers thought that the whole thing looks like a WWE fight designed for sale. It may be true, but in the room it seemed real.

Two fighters separate and then return to the second shot again. This lasts a good 20 seconds, and White finally relaxes his hands a little in the middle. It raises the Ring magazine belt, which according to the company cost USD 188,000, but Crawford and Canelo will never break away from each other.

Alvarez is still during the photo. His left hand is at his side, and his right hand is slightly higher and at all, if necessary, rolled up for full sending. His sunglasses are turned off, as well as future dinner plans.

Boxing

Malik Scott Predicts Knockout Victory for Jai Opetaia in Upcoming Fight

Published

2 hours ago

November 7, 2026

The Punch Junkie™ News

"Malik Scott Predicts Knockout Victory for Jai Opetaia in Upcoming Fight"

Deontay Wilder’s former head coach Malik Scott has delivered a knockout prediction for the American’s upcoming showdown with Jai Opetaia.

The pair will square off at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium on December 11, with Opetaia making his heavyweight debut on the undercard of Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua.

Despite him being the naturally smaller man, many are favouring the Australian – a former two-time world cruiserweight champion – to defeat his 10-years-older opponent.

It is, after all, generally accepted that Wilder has declined significantly since his trilogy bout with Furywho survived two knockdowns and scored an 11th-round knockout in their 2021 encounter.

Back then, Wilder had just joined forces with Scott, his former opponent, and the pair maintained their fighter-trainer relationship through subsequent defeats against Joseph Parker and Zhilei Zhang.

With Wilder now operating under different coaches, though, Scott has shared a balanced view of the Opetaia fight with Seconds Out.

“The fight’s got dynamite written all over it. Jai Opetaia is very dangerous, but he’s a smaller man that’s been hurt by smaller men than Deontay, slower men than Deontay.

“I’ve never seen Opetaia get hit by nobody like Deontay; I’ve seen Deontay get hit by bigger punchers than Opetaia. [But] one thing we can expect in this fight is a knockout.

“The name of the fight is ‘bad intentions’ – at least that’s what I’m calling it, because that’s what they share in common. What they share in common is mentality – they both are trying to hurt you.”

While he stopped short of predicting a winner, it is perhaps telling that Scott, despite his relationship with Wilder, has not explicitly favoured him to win by knockout.

Boxing

Buatsi vs Hutchinson 2 Live Blog and Results: Round-by-Round Updates

Published

7 hours ago

November 7, 2026

The Punch Junkie™ News

Buatsi vs Hutchinson 2 Live Blog and Results: Round-by-Round Updates

Joshua Butter and Willy Hutchinson will meet again, this time for the vacant WBC light heavyweight title from Manchester.

BLH will be here from 2 pm ET with live results and coverage, plus the live discussion down in the comments section.

Buatsi beat Hutchinson back in September 2024, a close and controversial split decision in London, and the stakes are even higher this time around.

Join us this afternoon, and if you’re away from home, you can join the conversation with the SB Nation app for iOS or Android!

How to watch Buatsi vs Hutchinson 2

Streaming: DAZN (subscription)

Location: AO Arena, Manchester, England

Buatsi vs Hutchinson 2 full card lineup

Boxing

Boxing Mailbag: Middleweight Future, Lomas Comeback, Lara Insights, and More

Published

7 hours ago

November 7, 2026

The Punch Junkie™ News

"Boxing Mailbag: Middleweight Future, Loma's Comeback, Lara Insights, and More"

Have you seen The Boxer (1997) starring Daniel Day-Lewis? If you have, what did you think of DDL’s boxing in the movie? In my opinion it’s the most convincing anyone with no background in the sport (though knowing the man he probably trained for months like a maniac to get in the role) ever did on screen.

Many years ago, yeah. I remember liking the movie a lot and being impressed with Daniel Day-Lewis’ performance, which, you know — par for the course with him, but in particular the boxing as a specific thing that wasn’t just him being one of the great actors to ever live. Good movie!

From Southpaw Double Jab:

How would Canelo do in a rematch with Crawford, if it happened within a year? He certainly look sharper, although his foe was about as straightforward as they get, albeit strong (but only determined in spots, it seemed). Painful reminders in the 12th that Canelo carries his power late into a fight, and into his career…pity his feet are often so slow in cutting off the ring.

I think it could be interesting, but a big part of that is that Crawford would come in rusty now. And while he looks good on camera and stuff, you don’t know what kind of “fighting shape” he’s kept himself in in the year-plus he’s already been away from the ring. But if all things are equal, both guys as good as they can be on the night, I just think Bud beats him until proven otherwise. Can’t pick against it.

Middleweight has been a barren landscape for some time now, but help appears to be on the way! We’ve got promising prospects (A. Jones, C. Peters), the solid middle class (J. Ramos, Mielnicki, Katzourakis, J. Tucker, Liddard), promising belt holders (A. McKenna, Y. Hernandez shortly) , reliable vets (Lara, Adames), nepo babies (Eubank Jr., Tszyu), and the much-needed names moving up from 154 (Ortiz Jr., Zayas, and maybe Boots or Fundora?). At the end of 2027, who will be the top guy at 160?

I’m praying the coming year really is the one where we start to see real life again at 160. We’ve thought help was coming repeatedly, and then it fizzled. But you’re sort of getting to the real key, too: It’s not about some young gun taking over, or at least it doesn’t have to be. That middle class, get these guys fighting each other and you have a better, at least more active and enjoyable division pretty much immediately.

If I had to make a guess on the top dog at 160 at the end of 2027, I’m going to say Xander Zayas, unless Boots winds up there, which is very possible. So Boots, I guess, but if not him then Zayas will make Boots’ win over him look even better going forward. I really think he’ll rebound well from the loss, I think he’s a very good fighter with a great mindset.

November 21st has become a weird hole in the boxing calendar. Any idea why? We have Teremoana on Wednesday, Amari Jones on Friday, but then Saturday is a big blank hole. No major promoters having a show. Then on the 28th is Kabayel vs. Hysa on Saturday, but still nothing in the American time slot. 2 weeks in a row with nothing for the American audience. I assume it’s football season? Nothing comparable happened last year.

I think there was real hope that Shakur vs Haney would come on November 28. Other than that, you’ve got football, then Thanksgiving in the States on the 26th, and sometimes this stuff just happens. Late year boxing schedules often get janky. Some guys just don’t want to train around the holidays, too.

The Ring came out with their first pound for pound list in 1989, since then it has been topped by 17 different fighters, 9 Americans, 2 Mexicans, 2 Ukrainians, and Nicaragua, Japan, Kazakhstan and the Philippines have all had one respectively. As a boxing fan the country whose absence on that list looms the largest to me is Great Britain, why has the UK never had a number one P4P boxer? Is it just dumb luck, lack of top tier training infrastructure, lack of talent, an insidious anti-British plot, or something else?

Who got closest? Calzaghe? Hamed? Hatton?

I think it’s just one of those things. Lots of top British fighters in that time frame, just haven’t had one of those, like, sport-leading, dominant guys in the weights that generally get the P4P love. Lots of big stars, though.

Thoughts on Erislandy Lara’s career now that we’re headed towards its twilight? I’ve always had a substantial soft spot for the elegant Cuban even if his opposition these last couple years has been less than stellar. Do you think he has any considerable future at 160 as a kind of B-Hop lite or do you think he keeps taking cheques against easy touches until the wheels come off while holding his belt hostage?

Really good fighter, borderline great at his very best. I don’t expect him to do anything terribly interesting, though it’s worth noting he signed up to fight Janibek, and that fell apart because of Janibek.

I’ve said this before, but I sincerely admire the decade he’s had in the 2020s, and going back to August 2019 when he trounced Canelo’s Brother, Ramon. Look at that schedule: Greg Vendetti, Cornflake LaManna, Spike O’Sullivan, Michael Zerafa, a blown-up/half-retired Danny Garcia, Johan Gonzalez. Not a sincere contender among them, no matter what BoxRec’s computers think of Zerafa, something I have never understood. And every one of those fights for a world title. And all that time, you can’t even say Lara’s a draw and go, “Well, he brings in money!”

It’s really something remarkable. And I just can’t be mad at the guy. He took advantage of something that is allowed. And plus, in the two fights before the Ramon-to-present run, he gave us absolute wars against Jarrett Hurd and Brian Castano. I started doing BLH in 2006, Lara came on the scene in 2008, there aren’t that many fighters we actively talked about on this site in 2008 and 2026.

He was also arguably robbed of two wins that would have been trajectory-changing, first against Paul Williams in 2011, and then against Canelo in 2014. Lara’s 43 now, he does have the feeling of a guy who could do this until he’s 50 if he’s smart and careful about it. I think he’ll beat Tszyu in a month, but I’m also not 100% on that, 43 is years past when it could be any old fight where you go old. But we’ll see. I like Lara.

Why don’t we ever hear about heavy weight catch weights? We have some giants fighting recently and the “smaller” 200+ guys seem to not do so well, except Usyk. Do you consider the unpopular Bridgerweight division as a type of heavy catch weight? Why do you think the fans have not adopted it as such?

Because boxing doesn’t need a 900th division. Bridgerweight will never connect. Cruiserweight has never really connected outside of Europe. And that’s had decades to get there. People don’t want more divisions or weight classes. They just don’t. We have too many as it is.

Usyk vs Benavidez at cruiserweight – who you got? And would a defeat hurt Usyk’s legacy or further enhance it simply because he took such a dangerous fight? Lastly, do you want Usyk to take that fight?

Usyk’s legacy is set in stone. If anyone thinks losing to Benavidez hurts Usyk’s legacy, I think they just lack perspective, that’s a consequence of our “reaction”-driven sports culture.

If Ryan vs Floyd actually happens, and Floyd loses… does his ATG stock take a hit? Ryan has said it has to be sanctioned. Does it depend on it being an actual officially sanctioned bout vs exhibition?

No, Floyd’s legacy doesn’t take a hit. I think it’s kind of embarrassing that Ryan Garcia wants to fight a 50-year-old Floyd Mayweather, but that’s the Ryan Garcia Story. One step forward for your own legitimacy, two steps back.

If Mayweather were to take a sanctioned fight with Garcia or basically anyone at this point, I have a hard time looking at that as something legitimate worth taking seriously. He would only do it because of truly dire finances, and what are we talking about then? We’re not talking about a prime athlete. We’re not talking about someone who even wants to be there. We’re talking about an old guy who needs money and is desperate enough to do something he does not want to do and never did. That’s not interesting to me, and it’s not something I’d take seriously on his record. It’s just sad.

If the proposed Muhammad Ali Reform Act does not pass the senate, would you expect Zuffa to shutter its business? No UBO, bad business with sanctioning bodies and rival promoters, no standout name to promote…I can’t help but think this is Dana White’s XFL.

Very possible. I guess you could give Zuffa Boxing to someone other than Dana under the TKO banner, but what’s the point then? They’re not going to invest in it at that stage.

Loma just re-signed with top rank so the comeback is OFFICIALLY OFFICIAL!!! My question is, when Loma moved up to 135 lbs back in 2018, would you consider that decision one of the worst boxing “career” decisions a top fighter liked Loma could’ve made?

Nope. He did well. Had big fights, made good money, went 8-2 at the weight and his losses were narrow decisions against Teofimo and Haney, and a lot of people thought he deserved the duke against Devin, and it was certainly debatable. He had a bad half a fight against Teofimo in a weird environment in 2020. But he lost to a pair of younger, talented guys who were natural at 135 and are both now three-division world champions, same as Vasiliy.

If the best fights for him to take in this comeback were at 135, he’d fight at 135 again. But there are fights he can make at 130 and that’s the better weight for him. If he could still make 126 I’m sure he’d prefer that. Every time he moved up it was to get good fights. And he took them when they were on the table.