Canelo vs. Crawford: Can Saturday’s Las Vegas Show Join Boxing’s Megafight Pantheon?
Undisputed super-middleweight title bout pits two veteran champions against each other as commentators weigh its place alongside boxing’s most storied fights
Saul "Canelo" Álvarez and Terence Crawford meet Saturday night on the Las Vegas Strip for the undisputed world super-middleweight championship in a bout that has been framed by commentators as a candidate to join boxing’s catalogue of all-time megafights.
Both fighters are established champions and veterans of long careers who, according to a recent column by Jeff Powell in the Daily Mail, could use a definitive victory to cement their legacies. Powell set the clash alongside a sequence of landmark fights dating back to the 19th century and asked whether this weekend’s meeting might yet be judged among the century-defining contests in the sport.
Powell’s column traces a through-line of contests that combined elite skill, drama and broader cultural impact. He cites John L. Sullivan’s 1892 loss to Jim Corbett as an early turning point in boxing history, a match that Powell describes as emblematic of the sport’s shift from bare-knuckle brawling to modern gloved competition. Sullivan’s career and that 21st-round stoppage are positioned as a foundational episode in boxing’s evolution.
Powell highlights the 1910 fight between Jack Johnson and James J. Jeffries as an example of boxing’s capacity to reflect and inflame social tensions. Johnson’s unanimous victory over the former champion — who had been coaxed out of retirement and marketed as the "great white hope" — was followed by race-related riots in cities across the United States and is presented as a bout whose impact extended far beyond the ring.
The columnist places the first Joe Frazier–Muhammad Ali fight in 1971 among the most consequential of the 20th century, citing the match’s global audience and the political context that framed Ali’s return after suspension for refusing military service in Vietnam. Powell also singled out the 1974 "Rumble in the Jungle" — Ali vs. George Foreman in Zaire — as the sports event of the century for its scale, promotional audacity and the introduction of Ali’s rope-a-dope tactic that culminated in an eighth-round knockout.
Ali’s trilogy with Frazier concluded with the 1975 "Thrilla in Manila," which Powell called one of the most brutal and defining encounters in ring history. Later middleweight showdowns also feature in Powell’s list: Marvin Hagler’s three-round war with Thomas Hearns in 1985 as an example of compressed ferocity, and Hagler’s controversial 1987 loss to Sugar Ray Leonard, which Powell described as a tactical masterclass that produced heated debate over the judges’ decision.
Powell’s survey of historic fights culminates with Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao in 2015, which he identified as the archetypal megafight of the 21st century. That bout, held in Las Vegas after protracted negotiations, carried enormous financial stakes and arrived when both fighters were past their respective primes; Mayweather won a unanimous decision. Powell used the Mayweather–Pacquiao pairing to illustrate how commercial scale and delayed timing can shape perceptions of a fight’s place in history.
Against that backdrop, Powell framed the Canelo–Crawford matchup as a modern contest in which legacy considerations are paramount. Both fighters have accumulated championship accolades across weight classes and eras of the sport. Victory, Powell argues, would offer a late-career clarifying moment that could alter how each man is ranked among the greats.
The column also underscored criteria often used to judge the greatest fights: the quality and compatibility of the combatants, the drama and stakes of the contest itself, and, in several historic cases, the fight’s resonance with broader social or political events. Several of Powell’s highlighted bouts carried implications beyond pure sport — from issues of race and national identity to anti-war politics and global spectacle.
Promoters, media and fans will watch Saturday’s outcome for both the immediate sporting result and its effect on long-term narratives. Unlike some bouts cited by Powell, which had clear and immediate historical consequences, the Canelo–Crawford fight will be assessed on ring performance, tactical execution and how effectively the winner answers questions about timing and durability late in their careers.
Canelo and Crawford enter the ring with contrasting styles and résumés that will factor into assessments regardless of the result. Analysts and historians who compile lists of the greatest fights will consider whether the match produced compelling drama, decisive outcomes and lasting cultural significance. For now, Powell’s column places the bout in a lineage of contests that have, at various times, redefined the sport and its public reception.
Saturday’s fight will offer an immediate conclusion to one chapter of both fighters’ careers and, depending on the manner of victory, may influence where each is placed in retrospective rankings. Whether it will be remembered alongside the Rumble in the Jungle, the Thrilla in Manila or other bouts Powell enumerates will depend on elements visible in the ring — performance, drama and consequence — and on how the fight is received in the days and years that follow.