Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez told Terence Crawford he is a “great fighter but he’s not Canelo” as the pair kicked off their media tour in Saudi Arabia.
Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez : The pound-for-pound greats will fight on 13 September in Las Vegas for Alvarez’s undisputed super-middleweight world championship.
It is a bout being billed as the “fight of the century” but Alvarez dismissed the notion it could be a close contest with American Crawford stepping up from light-middleweight.
“He’s a great fighter but he’s not Canelo. I have the experience,” Alvarez said at a news conference.
“They only focus on my power but I have more than that. This fight is going to be one of my best fights on my record.”
Alvarez, 34, may be the younger man by three years but having made his professional debut aged 15 and with 11 world titles, 27 world-title fights and 67 bouts in total under his belt, the Mexican has been cast as the man to pass the torch to Crawford.
“He’s not going to beat me, don’t worry about it,” Alvarez answered at one stage, which drew a laugh and a smile from Crawford, who replied: “For sure them belts are coming home with me.”
Twenty-six bouts separate the rivals, but Crawford too has a record most fighters could only dream of with 19 consecutive world-title bout and a two-weight undisputed champion.
Crawford promised he would become the first male three-weight undisputed champion, in a classy nod to his American counterpart Claressa Shields, who has already achieved the feat in the women’s code.
Alvarez was equally confident, describing himself as a “winner” and telling Crawford: “You don’t look different.”
“I’m different. You going to see,” Crawford said in reply.
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The fight will be staged at NFL side Las Vegas Raiders’ Allegiant Stadium in Vegas, which holds 65,000 people.
It will also be the first event that UFC president Dana White’s new boxing outfit will promote, a partnership with Saudi’s Turki Alalshikh that almost collapsed before being revived in recent weeks.
Alalshikh himself was given a seat at the top table while White was not present.
The chairman of the General Entertainment Authority has been the hand of power and driver of incredible Saudi investment in boxing in the last 18 months, but has not often been sat among the fighters at public events.
Alalshikh outlined his demands to two of the greatest fighters of their generation in the opening remarks, slamming “Tom and Jerry” fights and insisting they must deliver him “smashing face”.
The beginning of a three-city press tour that includes Las Vegas and New York, gathered media only asked Alalshikh questions before he left the stage.
It took almost 25 minutes before either fighter spoke.
Saudi Arabia has invested huge sums of money into sport in an effort, the Kingdom say, to diversify their income revenues as a nation, but continue to face accusations of using sport as a vehicle for sportwashing and propaganda.
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But with Alalshikh set to embark on a new venture of super-fights broadcast on Netflix and creating a new promotional entity to do so, the Saudi investment into boxing shows little sign of slowing down.
Back to the boxing and the news conference ended with the traditional face-off.
Dramatic music blared during it, with Alvarez being the first to look away in a emotionless staredown.
Crawford, who is being publicly backed by Alalshikh, said this is the fight he always wanted.
“I called Canelo out, he is the last great fighter amongst the era that surpassed us. The Floyd [Mayweather], the [Manny] Pacquiao, the [Oscar] De La Hoya. We both came up in that era and he got the chance to fight them.
“I wasn’t able to get those mega fights, this is my mega fight. This is my moment.”
