LAS VEGAS — Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez requested that Friday morning’s official weigh-in for his undisputed super middleweight championship bout against Terence “Bud” Crawford be held behind closed doors, according to Jeff Mullen, executive director of the Nevada Athletic Commission.
Earlier this week, reporters received email invitations to the official weigh-ins scheduled to take place at the Fontainebleau casino-resort on Friday morning. There was no indication that any of the weigh-ins would be held privately, only a statement that, unlike Friday evening’s ceremonial weigh-in, these would be closed to fans.
Yet on Thursday evening, credentialed media received an updated email from the organizers of the fight stating that “the main event official weigh-in will be closed to the media. Those weights will be communicated to credentialed media after both athletes weigh in.”
When The Athletic queried why the main event weigh-in was to take place privately, unlike the weigh-ins for the rest of the bouts, Zuffa Boxing referred questions to the Nevada Athletic Commission.
According to Nevada’s written regulations, boxing weigh-ins generally occur with members of the media allowed to attend. “Unless otherwise approved by the Commission or the Executive Director, the weigh-in must occur in the presence of the public,” the regulations state, dated current as of November 2024.
Mullen said in an interview that its regulations and practices changed during the coronavirus pandemic to allow for private weigh-ins. “We’re allowed to do it. We were requested to do it. It’s standard procedure for big boxing fights,” Mullen said.
Mullen said he conducted the weigh-ins himself, and they proceeded normally. Both fighters weighed in half a pound under the super middleweight limit at 167.5 pounds, Mullen said.
The weigh-ins for Crawford and Álvarez were held in the same Fontainebleau conference center as the rest of the weigh-ins, which were carried out much like official proceedings for a UFC-organized event (Zuffa is the new boxing arm of the parent company that owns the UFC, with Dana White serving as a cofounder and chief promoter).
Without much fanfare or delay, all 18 fighters made weight, posed for cameras and walked off a small stage.
A Nevada regulator then walked down a large hallway to another, more private space, where Crawford and Álvarez were to be officially weighed. Quickly, crews dismantled the official scale for the rest of the fighters, and a short time later, UFC announced the official weights on social media.
Oskar Garcia contributed to this report.
(Photo: Jeff Bottari / TKO Worldwide LLC via Getty Images)