Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford are just over one month away from their highly anticipated ‘mega-fight’.
The modern greats are set to do battle for the undisputed super-middleweight world championship on Saturday September 13 at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada.
‘Bud’ Crawford will make his first appearance when he faces the Mexican icon, having spent almost the entirety of his glittering professional career campaigning at welterweight, where he became the undisputed champion in July of 2023.
Canelo has been a dominant force at 168lbs since making the move up from middleweight back in 2018, defeating the likes of Callum Smith, Jermell Charlo and Gennady Golovkin during this period.
As the boxing world gears up for one of the biggest fights in the sport’s history, one fighter in particular has put his name forward to step in should Canelo pull out of the fight for any reason.
In an interview with Mill City Boxing, former unified world welterweight champion Keith Thurman claimed that he’s ready to step in to face Crawford should the opportunity present itself.
“He [doesn’t] really need to see me but I told Bud, I DM’d him actually recently. I said ‘Hey man, if Canelo pulls out, I’m here. If anything happens to Canelo, Bud, I’m here just let me know’.”
Thurman made his long-awaited return to the ring back in March, stopping Australia’s Brock Jarvis in the third round of their bout in Sydney.
Prior to this the 36-year-old from Florida hadn’t fought since he defeated reigning WBC world welterweight champion Mario Barrios in February of 2022, and is now looking to stay active in his career.