The battle between pound-for-pound greats
Canelo Alvarez and
Terence Crawford features fellow four-division champions and future first ballot Hall of Famers pitted against each other.
The stage is set for the superfight to unfold globally on Netflix on Sept. 13 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
The WBA junior middleweight titleholder Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) is ranked No. 3 on
The Ring's P4P list, while the undisputed super middleweight champion Alvarez (63-2-2, 39 KOs) is listed at No. 8.
To get a better understanding of how Crawford will fare stepping up two weight classes against Alvarez, The Ring polled one of the sport's fastest surging stars in Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, The Ring’s No. 6-ranked P4P fighter.
"That's a great fight," Rodriguez told The Ring. "Canelo is far more experienced, stronger, and bigger physically than Crawford. But I am a huge fan of Crawford and his switch-hitting style. He hits and doesn't get hit. He has the skills to beat Canelo.
"I feel Crawford will come out with the victory if he can keep Canelo off of him for 12 rounds. But with Canelo, all it takes is one shot. It's a risky move for Crawford, but I favor Crawford. He has what it takes to beat Canelo. He's one of the best when it comes to his skillset.”
DraftKings lists Crawford as a plus-145 betting underdog to beat the minus-185 favorite Alvarez. The over/under on the total number of rounds the fight is set to last is listed at 10.5.
Meanwhile, Rodriguez is preparing for an undisputed title fight of his own.
On Nov. 22 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, The Ring, WBC and WBO champion Rodriguez (22-0, 15 KOs)
is set to face WBA and IBF titleholder Fernando "Puma" Martinez (18-0, 9 KOs) for all of the marbles at 115 pounds.
Rodriguez is coming off a
10th-round stoppage against Phumelela Cafu in a July title unification fight.
Manouk Akopyan is The Ring's lead writer. Follow him on X and Instagram: @ManoukAkopyan.