Christopher Walker: Why Canelo's legacy hinges on historic Crawford fight

The biggest fight of 2025, perhaps a generation, is fast approaching as Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford go through their last-minute preparations before meeting for super-middleweight glory on Saturday night . 

A two-year build-up, built on the back of Crawford’s greatest hour inside a boxing ring, is about to become as real as it can get for both fighters.

The Nebraska man made it clear that Canelo was his ultimate target. His lone desire, after he brutally disposed of Errol Spence, his great rival, two summers ago. Now he stands on the verge of obtaining a status that only a few boxers ever get to sample. 

Canelo is one of them. Arguably the best fighter of his era, the Mexican’s time in boxing is approaching two decades.

An active fighter during world title reigns of Bernard Hopkins, Vitali Klitschko, and Joe Calzaghe, all champions in the 1990s but all now long retired, Canelo’s run in boxing has overlapped into several generations. But is it now at risk due to the size of the challenge that he is about to take on? 

Regardless of the result on Saturday night, fight fans may never recognise Crawford as Canelo’s greatest threat. That is a fair assessment considering who has stood in the opposite corner to the four-weight world champion.  

At the age of 23, years before some fighters even make their professional debut, Canelo was 43 fights into his career and was gearing up to face Floyd Mayweather in what was the standout fight of 2013.

Canelo had been built into a major attraction by Golden Boy Promotions, often appearing on stellar undercards of huge PPV fights as well as headlining his own shows against opponents expertly designed to showcase the flame-haired fighter’s extensive repertoire. 

Grit and determination

Heading into the Mayweather bout, Canelo had fought Matthew Hatton, Shane Mosley, and Austin trout.

His pale skin and ginger top stood alone when comparing him with the appearance of other Mexican greats such as Erik Morales, Marco Antonio Barrera, and Julio Cesar Chavez. Despite his unique look, Canelo possessed every last drop of grit and determination that made the aforementioned names superstars in their homeland and beyond. 

Against Mayweather, Canelo was outclassed, but that result was fine even though his pride may have been severely dented.

The second of a six-fight deal with Showtime, Mayweather vs Canelo was intended to the final contest of that mouthwatering deal, but after the first fight with Robert Guerrero failed to move the needle as intended, some within the sport speculated that the Canelo fight was pushed forward for a swifter return. 

A tender age for an elite level fighter, Canelo had time on his side and what came next was an incredible run that would see him occupy the spot that had belonged to Mayweather, Oscar De La Hoya, and for a short period, Manny Pacquiao.

Canelo kept on winning and with the great names from the previous era moving on, the early expectations for him to one day run boxing were now being realised. 

Miguel Cotto was outlasted. Amir Khan was almost decapitated. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr and Liam Smith had no answers to Canelo’s onslaughts.

Then came Gennadiy Golovkin, and perhaps the toughest period of Canelo’s career when he appeared to be mauled by the mighty Kazakh before the judges handed him a massive favour by scoring the fight a draw. 

Al Bello/Getty Images for Netflix

Failing a drugs test for a banned substance whilst a rematch with Golovkin was being finalised hurt Canelo’s reputation outside the ring as he was banned for six months.

The damage endured to his proud profile will surely have hurt, but that pain was not visible when he defeated Golovkin in September 2018 in another fight many believed he was fortunate to receive the nod. 

Not satisfied with middleweight and pound-for-pound supremacy, Canelo would embark on further tests that see him capture world titles at light-heavyweight as well as becoming undisputed king at 168lbs.

A shock 2022 defeat to Dmitry Bivol has aged fine considering where the Eastern European fighter now finds himself in the sport as the king of the 175lbs division after a terrific two fight series with Artur Beterbiev, but a loss to Crawford may not contain a similar shine. 

A terrific fighter and undoubtedly a modern great, Crawford jumping up essentially three weight classes with only one fight in between, a lacklustre points win over Israil Madrimov, should put so many advantages, largely size and strength, in Canelo’s favour. 

Crawford is not the most daunting fighter who has ever stood in front of Canelo, as the 35 year old has looked across the ring at Mayweather, Golovkin, and much bigger men in Bivol and Sergey Kovalev. But in terms of timing, and where he may be in his career, Crawford could be about to inflict the most damage. Even more than Mayweather and Bivol. 

For Canelo, he has often been the fighter, in fact always been the fighter, chasing greatness no matter what the risk.

Facing legends of the sport when still a boxing novice or leaping through the weight classes without ignoring who was number one, Canelo’s targets have always been admirable and legacy enhancing but is that legacy about to face alarming scrutiny?

Fishing in the eye of the storm

Now Crawford is the fighter on the hunt. Piling on weight, completely bypassing 160lbs, and opting not to tale a warm-up fight in a weight class he realistically has no right fighting in. Crawford is fishing in the eye of the storm knowing that he may return to shore with a lifechanging load or his ship may go under and never resurface. 

That is what is at stake for the 37-year-old American and if he can somehow do what he has done to 41 other opponents, then where does that leave Canelo?

The boy wonder of Mexican boxing. The veteran of so many world title fights. The man who eliminated the threat of Cotto, Golovkin, and Kovalev. Is he about to be remembered as the man who was humbled by a former lightweight who must put on over a stone just to get this fight over the line? 

That may be harsh on Canelo, and although boxing has been more than kind to him, defeat on Saturday night may demonstrate just how cruel the sport can be, even to one it loves so much. 

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