From an Omaha gym to a Las Vegas stadium, Terence Crawford has built a career solving problems others can’t. Now he must out-think size, history and Canelo Álvarez
Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford, America’s finest boxer since Floyd Mayweather Jr, has spent his life closing the distance between the improbable and the inevitable. He was the kid from North Omaha who survived a bullet to the head and poured himself into neighborhood gym. He was the stubborn amateur who missed the Olympics but kept showing up in dingy basements until the craft became second nature. He was the icy technician and ruthless finisher, denied opportunities against name-brand fighters for most of his career, who unified the fractured world championship at 140lb, then did it again at 147 by dismantling Errol Spence Jr so comprehensively that it felt like a curtain being ripped back. Here, at last, was the full measure of the quiet man’s design.
Now, at 37, undefeated in 41 professional fights with 31 wins by knockout, he’s arrived at boxing’s biggest stage yet. On Saturday night, beneath the fluorescent dome of Allegiant Stadium, Crawford will climb two weight classes to face Saúl ‘Canelo’ Álvarez for the undisputed super-middleweight crown. More than 70,000 fans are expected – the largest boxing crowd in Las Vegas history by more than double – in a $2bn football coliseum better known as the home of the NFL’s Raiders. Netflix will beam the spectacle to hundreds of millions of subscribers around the world at no extra cost, the first time a fight of this magnitude has bypassed the pay-per-view model that defined the sport for decades.
