It was May 3rd at The Venue in Riyadh. Following the action-packed Chris Eubank Jr. vs. Conor Benn bout on April 26th, fans were hoping the Cinco de Mayo weekend would deliver another round of fireworks. But instead, Canelo Alvarez and his young friend Ryan Garcia fell short of expectations. Garcia suffered a unanimous decision loss to underdog Rolando Romero, while Canelo, despite securing the two-time undisputed super middleweight title, put on a lackluster, sleep-inducing performance against the heavily outmatched and defensive-minded William Scull. Now, all eyes turn to September, where his highly anticipated bout with Terence Crawford is expected to flip the narrative.

The stakes couldn’t be higher as the two meet on September 12 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, with Canelo’s undisputed super middleweight title and both fighters’ legacies on the line. And for Terence Crawford, moving up two weight classes without a rehydration clause in place to take on the Mexican superstar isn’t just bold, it’s his way of demanding the respect he knows he deserves. And he did it right after the September bout was officially announced by HE Turki Alalshikh.

“Now this was funny. Crawford pulled up on a fan picking against him 😂,” read the caption on a clip shared by @ARTMANTHEGREAT. The short video shows Terence Crawford unexpectedly coming face-to-face with a Canelo Alvarez fan during a candid street interview in New York. Before Canelo Alvarez’s fight in Riyadh, The Ring ambassador Bruce ‘Shu Shu’ Carrington hit the streets of New York and asked fans their predictions for the Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford fight. He asked one of them, “Now if Terence Crawford was here right now and just said hi to you…” Before he could even finish, the fan cut in, saying, “Honestly, I love Terence Crawford. [But] I love Canelo [too], [Because] I am Mexican. So I gotta go for the Mexican.”

Meanwhile, another fan standing nearby, noticing the 41-0 boxer approaching from behind, quickly changed his tune and said, “I’m going with Bud, man… [And] he’s looking at me right now!” Ultimately, the Canelo Alvarez fan was visibly stunned and quickly reached out for a dap. Egging Crawford on, Carrington then added, “He picked Canelo. He picked Canelo over you, man.” Still, the fan, while respectful, didn’t backtrack on his stance. The entire interaction was funny and slightly awkward.

As Bud Crawford stood there, waiting for an explanation, the fan laughingly looked at him and said, “Man, my brother. I am your fan. You feel me? But I am Mexican so…. “ before quickly asking, “Can I get a picture with you?” Terence Crawford, ever the gentleman, stood in as the fan took a picture with the two-weight undisputed champion.

The fan showed respect to Terence Crawford but still stood by his fellow Mexican. And it’s that very dynamic—the cultural pride and mutual respect—that the Omaha native believes could help this fight reach the same iconic status as Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao did a decade ago.

Terence Crawford aims a record-breaking number despite piracy concerns

In a conversation with NFL veteran Shannon Sharpe, Terence Crawford made a bold claim: “There’s no fighter out right now that’s bigger than Crawford, Canelo. No fighter.” While he acknowledged that a Canelo vs. David Benavidez bout would be a great matchup, the Southpaw from Omaha believed there’s something uniquely powerful about the cultural weight of a “Black vs. Mexican” showdown. “I’ve always did bigger numbers than anything. You know, besides Manny Pacquiao-Floyd and Floyd-Conor McGregor, but yeah,” he said, suggesting this fight has the same kind of cross-cultural and commercial appeal.

Ultimately, the NFL Hall of Famer brought some serious numbers into the mix, mentioning projections that the Crawford-Canelo fight could generate somewhere between $600 and $750 million. That’s in the ballpark of the all-time record set by Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, which topped out at $600 million. Naturally, he asked Terence Crawford if he really believed this fight could match—or even top—that.

However, Bud Crawford kept it real, pointing out that the fight world today is shaped by streaming, digital platforms, and piracy—factors that make it tougher to hit the same numbers fighters did a decade ago. But despite those hurdles, he still has big expectations for this showdown with Canelo. “I just think it’s going to do tremendous numbers,” he said with confidence. So with that said, do you think Terence Crawford has a shot at surpassing that historic number?