NEW YORK -- Canelo Alvarez believes his planned September bout vs. Terence Crawford will be "one of the biggest fights in the history of boxing."
Alvarez, boxing's top star, made the comments during an ESPN interview following Thursday's news conference to promote his undisputed super middleweight championship fight vs. William Scull on May 3.
That bout will take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on the morning of Sunday, May 4, to accommodate a Saturday evening broadcast for Canelo in North America on Cinco de Mayo weekend.
Mexico's Alvarez holds the WBA, WBC and WBO titles at 168 pounds. He was stripped of the IBF title in July. That title was won by Cuba's Scull via unanimous decision in October in Germany.
If Alvarez (62-2-2, 39 KOs) is successful and emerges uninjured, the plan calls for him to defend the undisputed super middleweight championship vs. Crawford in September in Las Vegas. Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs) made his 154-pound debut in August with a title-winning effort vs. Israil Madrimov. Crawford, 37, would move up another two weight classes for the clash with Canelo.
"Just look how much he's accomplished and just look how much I accomplished," said Alvarez, 34. "So imagine two fighters with those accomplishments. It's huge. Huge.
"And I think that's why I think now it makes sense for a lot of reasons. Everybody says he's a smaller fighter, but I've won titles in four weight classes, so I know great fighters can succeed at higher weights."
Alvarez, ESPN's No. 6 pound-for-pound boxer, believes this matchup with Crawford (ESPN's No. 2 pound-for-pound boxer) could be bigger than his 2013 fight with Floyd Mayweather.
"He's a complete fighter," Alvarez said of Crawford, a four-division champion.
For now, though, Alvarez is focused only on Scull and his first fight outside North America.
"It was a dream to fight in other countries," Alvarez said. "... I feel at this moment in my career, I need that kind of motivation. ... That's the idea, to open doors in the whole world. And for [the Middle East] it's important to have Latinos, too."
