Bettors are loading up on 1 prop for Canelo-Crawford megafight
Canelo Alvarez has never been knocked out in his 20-year professional boxing career.
But bettors are loading up on Terence Crawford to become the first boxer to knock out Alvarez in their undisputed super middleweight title fight Saturday night at Allegiant Stadium.
Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) to win by knockout, technical knockout or disqualification is the most popular bet on the bout at STN Sports, where the method of victory prop pays 7-1.
Crawford, who will move up from 154 pounds to 168 pounds to challenge Alvarez (63-2-2, 39 KOs), has been bet down from 11-1 on the same prop at the Westgate SuperBook to +550 on Friday.
“We’ve already taken a lot of money on both guys to win by knockout, and I expect that to continue,” Westgate vice president of race and sports John Murray said. “Famous last words, but that would surprise me if Terence Crawford was able to move up in weight and knock out Canelo, who’s never been knocked out.
“Even Gennady Golovkin and Dmitry Bivol couldn’t knock him out. So I’d be very impressed if Terence Crawford, a smaller man, was able to do that. But you never know.”
Alvarez opened as a -150 favorite over Crawford, and on July 31 a Westgate bettor wagered $45,000 to win $30,000 on the Mexican fighter to prevail. The market moved Alvarez up to -175 before the price dropped as low as -155 on Friday.
“A lot of people’s thought process there (with that bet on Alvarez) is that Canelo is going to be so much bigger than him and Crawford is a guy that gets hit. We have seen him get tagged before,” Murray said. “If Canelo, being a much bigger guy, can land some big shots on him, that can be tough for Crawford to overcome that.
“I think so highly of Crawford. He’s never lost a fight in his career. It’s just always hard to pick a guy moving up in weight. … They do have weight classes in boxing for a reason.”
Alvarez, 35, is also almost three years younger than Crawford, who turns 38 on Sept. 28.
But the size and age advantage hasn’t stopped bettors from backing the underdog, who is +145 at STN Sports.
“Any time you have a fight of this magnitude, you see some ‘dog money come in,” Red Rock Resort sportsbook director Chuck Esposito said. “Clearly, the action has been on Crawford because of the plus price.
“It looks like we’re going to need Canelo in the fight.”
Esposito said a draw is also receiving a lot of interest. It pays 11-1 at the Westgate.
The total is 10½ rounds for the scheduled 12-round fight and the over is a -360 favorite.
“We’ll probably end up needing Crawford,” Murray said. “But I do expect there to be really good two-way action on the fight. I think we’ll see a lot of action, period, on the fight.”
The first boxing match at Allegiant Stadium will be shown live on Netflix and is included with any Netflix subscription. The fight will also be shown for free at all Station Casinos sportsbooks.
Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on X.