Canelo Alvarez vs Terence Crawford instantly shatters two records before one punch is thrown

Canelo Alvarez’s epic super-middleweight clash with Terence Crawford has already etched itself into boxing’s history books.

Alvarez meets Crawford at Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium for a showdown dubbed ‘Fight of the Century’ on Saturday, live on Netflix, with millions worldwide expected to tune in.

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It is the first time the stadium, home of the Las Vegas Raiders, has hosted a combat sports event since it opened five years ago, with around 65,000 fans expected to attend on the night.

The evening will also mark a first for UFC CEO and President Dana White, who is switching from MMA to enter the boxing fray for the first time as the event’s main promoter.

Speaking to Las Vegas News, White was asked about what it was like promoting his first boxing fight, and revealed the historic card has already smashed some pretty big records.

Alvarez vs Crawford breaks two huge records before fight night

“My first fight ever – I’ve been talking about boxing for a long time – is Canelo Crawford, one of the biggest fights ever,” White, 56, explained.

“[It is] literally one of the biggest fighters ever. The third biggest gate in the history of boxing, and it’s the biggest gate ever in a stadium.

“It’s awesome and surreal at the same time.”

Alvarez vs Crawford comes in behind Floyd Mayweather’s fights with Conor McGregor and Manny Pacquiao as the third-biggest gate in boxing’s history.

Although these figures are unofficial as it stands, the bout is also expected to overtake Jake Paul‘s meeting with Mike Tyson in November as the highest-earning stadium gate in the history of combat sports.

Paul vs Tyson’s gate grossed over $18million, beating the previous record for combat sports held by Canelo vs Billy Joe Saunders in 2021, which made $9m.

Alvarez vs Crawford has also already broken another record, which would usually go against White’s moral compass.

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“I’d love to tell you that’s the way it went down, but it wasn’t,” White said when asked about putting on the fight at Allegiant Stadium.

The UFC kingpin is known to be against hosting fights in stadiums, with a preference for arenas to maximise atmosphere and minimise errors.

“[Saudi boxing chief Turki Alalshikh] wanted to do Allegiant Stadium so bad, he wanted this thing so bad, and you know how I feel about fights in stadiums – I like arenas.

“But listen, I love the way that this guy thinks. He thinks big and crazy, and things that have never been done before.

“Not that stadiums haven’t been done before, but it hasn’t been done in Vegas at Allegiant.

“And we’re the biggest event ever at Allegiant Stadium. We broke all their records, and you know whose record we broke?

“Ours, the WWE. The WWE had number one, and we just broke the WWE’s record.

“TKO is UFC, WWE, and now boxing.”

Alvarez vs Crawford clash bigger than Wrestlemania 41

White’s promotion of Alvarez’s undisputed title defence comes under the new Saudi-backed company, Zuffa Boxing, which he launched alongside Alalshikh in March.

TKO Holdings, owners of the UFC and WWE, is the parent company of Zuffa Boxing, which was created to host the biggest fights in the world and create superstars.

WrestleMania 41, the WWE’s annual flagship show, generated the largest gate for any event in the organisation’s history through its double-header in April.

It drew 124,693 across the two nights at Allegiant Stadium, also becoming the most-viewed WrestleMania of all time in the process.

According to White, Alvarez vs Crawford has already surpassed WrestleMania 41 as the biggest event Allegiant Stadium has ever produced.