Boxing

Canelo Alvarez Humbles Floyd Mayweather With Terence Crawford Comparison

Canelo Alvarez delivered a strong opinion about Terence Crawford and Floyd Mayweather.
Grant Young|
Sep 14, 2013; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Floyd Mayweather Jr. (blue gloves) and Canelo Alvarez (green gloves) battle at their WBC and WBA super welterweight titles fight at MGM Grand Garden Arena. Mayweather won by a majority decision. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
Sep 14, 2013; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Floyd Mayweather Jr. (blue gloves) and Canelo Alvarez (green gloves) battle at their WBC and WBA super welterweight titles fight at MGM Grand Garden Arena. Mayweather won by a majority decision. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

On September 13, 2025, Saul "Canelo" Alvarez will be defending his WBA, WBC, WBO, and IBF super middleweight belts against Terence Crawford, in what is perhaps the most highly anticipated superfight of the entire year.

While this might be the most lucrative bout of Canelo's legendary career, the fact that he fought against Floyd "Money" Mayweather back in 2013 makes that this Crawford bout probably isn't the highest-profile contest he has had. At the time, Mayweather was the face of boxing, and Canelo was an up-and-coming superstar who would have turned the world upside down if he could have secured a victory against the then-undefeated light middleweight champion.

Alas, Canelo came up short against Mayweather (who won via majority decision, with the scorecards reading 114–114, 116–112, and 117–111). However, Canelo going toe-to-toe with Mayweather throughout the 12-round bout surely set the stage for Canelo becoming the boxing superstar that he is today.

Crawford now has an opportunity to become an even bigger star than he already is with a world-class performance against Canelo. And during a June 21 interview with The Sun, Canelo made it clear that he has perhaps an even tougher test against Crawford than he did against Mayweather over a decade ago.

"I think Crawford is better than Mayweather because he turns his guard to both sides, he's more intelligent," Canelo was quoted as saying in the article. He then added, "I think he's better than Floyd Mayweather. That's what I think."

However, Canelo also asserted that he's now better equipped for a fight of his magnitude because of his experience against Mayweather, saying, "I learned in every single fight not just in the Mayweather fight but I learned everything and for every fight.

"I'm gonna put all my experience there because I'm gonna need it." 

Comments like these will only get the boxing community even more excited about this showdown.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young is a Staff Writer for On SI’s Boxing, New York Mets, Indiana Fever, and Women’s Fastbreak sites. Before joining SI in 2024, he wrote for various boxing and sports verticals such as FanBuzz and NY Fights. Young has a bachelor’s degree in marketing and a master’s degree in creative writing with an emphasis on sports nonfiction from the University of San Francisco, where he played five seasons of Division 1 baseball. He fought Muay Thai professionally in Thailand in 2023, loves a good essay, and is driven crazy trying to handle a pitpull puppy named Aura. Young lives in San Diego and was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area.