Different Type Of Fight Night In Las Vegas: This Time, It’s Inside NFL Stadium For Crawford Win Over Canelo; Attendance Announced At 70,482;

September 13, 2025September 14, 2025 Alan Snel Dana White, Floyd Mayweather, Saul Canelo Alvarez, Terence Crawford, Turki Alalshikh

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Terence “Bud” Crawford wins by unanimous decision
Attendance announced at 70,482
First boxing match at Allegiant Stadium, home of NFL Raiders
First boxing match promoted by Zuffa Boxing under TKO Group Holdings

By LVSportsBiz.com Publisher Alan Snel, Combat Sports Writer Cassandra Cousineau and Photographer Hugh Byrne

LAS VEGAS, Nevada — At 2:30 PM Saturday, the first boxing fans found their seats in this goliath boxing venue.

For the first time in its five-year history, Allegiant Stadium is hosting a boxing match — the first boxing event being promoted by UFC Bossman and President Dana White under the Zuffa Boxing banner and TKO Group Holdings.

Dana White. the combat sports ringmaster of Las Vegas.

Saul Canelo Alvarez, 35, vs Terence Crawford, 37, — two superstar four-division champion boxers brought together to create a spectacle event that Las Vegas has become experienced at hosting.

This building hosted a Super Bowl less than two years ago and is set to stage the College Football Playoff (CFP) national championship game in Jan. 2027 and college basketball’s Final Four in April 2028 (after the A’s stadium opens a mile from here on the Strip in March 2028).

Talk all you want about Las Vegas laboring to diversify its economy.

But when you’re inside this building, it’s brutally obvious that Las Vegas is a one-trick pony economic machine of a blend of tourism and entertainment. Sports is not diversifying the Las Vegas economy. It’s doubling down on Las Vegas as an entertainment town where the big hotel companies like MGM Resorts International and Caesars Entertainment dictate public policy to the Clark County commissioners.

The first impression of looking down on the boxing ring in the middle of a 62,500-seat NFL stadium is that the venue was too big in scope to watch a championship boxing event. White knew this, which is why he compared boxers throwing punches in an NFL stadium to ants playing on a match book. Attendance was announced at 70,482. In a few months, the Las Vegas Stadium Authority Board will receive numbers showing the actual number of attendees for the event, not the tickets distributed.

“I don’t like stadiums because I feel like the experience isn’t great for fights,” White said, responding to LVSportsBiz.com’s question on the fight venue.

“So it’s my job and my team’s job to make sure that te ive experience is the best anyone has ever seen in combat sports,” White said. “That’s our challenge going into this thing. We did the Sphere in a short amount of time. I guarantee you we’ll pull this one off, too.”

The mammoth venue swallowed up the fight area. During the preliminary bouts there was a lack of buzz and excitement in the crowd as if there was a disconnect between the people in attendance and the combatants.

LVSportsBiz.com asked Crawford to compare his past fights in Las Vegas to the spectacle atmosphere of a boxing ring in an NFL stadium where more than 60,000 people are expected to attend.

“As a fighter, it doesn’t feel any different. I know come fight night being in Allegiant Stadium will feel different. It’s big for the fans,” Crawford said. “”For me, I’m ready for anything.”

Promoting the fight with White is Turki Alalshikh, so LVSportsBiz.com asked Turki Alalshikh, chairman of the Saudia Arabia General Entertainment Authority (GEA), about promoting a big sports event in Las Vegas. He’s co-promoting the fight event with White, who owned a boxing training business in Las Vegas before hooking up with Las Vegas-based UFC.

“I’m happy to be here wuth a great platform, with a great company, and with two legends,” Alalshikh said, responding to LVSportsBiz.com’s question.

Indeed, legends are not hyperbole. Alvarez, who has fought in a match in a class as high as 175 pounds, has accepted the baton from Floyd Mayweather, Jr. as the sport’s biggest draw, biggest name and best all-around boxer. Crawford has added a few extra pounds and has moved up two weight classes to fight Canelo.

White predicted Canalo-Crawford would be the third highest boxing match gate in the sport’s history behind the top gate of Mayweather vs Manny Pacquiao at MGM Grand Garden Arena May 2, 2015. At the time, the undefeated Mayweather was 38 and Pacquaiao was 36 — Crawford is 37 to Canelo’s 35.

At 4 PM, seats for Canelo/Crawford had a get-in price of $236.

Enjoying the event was Las Vegas consultant Jeremy Aguero, who worked on the 2016 Nevada state law that designated the $750 million in public money to help the Raiders build Allegiant Stadium. The Raiders stadium had a $1.4 billion construction budget — the biggest piece of the $2 billion overall project cost. A’s team president Marc Badain, the former Raiders president who worked on the Raiders stadium project, is seen here with Aguero:

Seat Geek ticket costs on the secondary market at 4 PM:

At 9:55 PM, the main event cmmenced. The first round was a feeling out round for Canelo and Crawford. Crawford looked quicker as Canelo was stypied from landing inside shots. There were several times when the crowd booed because of a lack of action in the ring.

In the ninth round, the pace quickened and the punches were flying as Crawford boxing quickness took hold. But then more booing in the final 30 seconds. In the end, it was too much Crawford. The man nicknamed Bud won by unanimous decision.

Celebrities included Magic Johnson, Michael J. Fox, Mike Tyson and Sofia Vergara.

Less than an hour after the mega fight, stadium conversion workers had broken down all the chairs on the stadium floor. There is an NFL game in two days — the Raiders host the Chargers for Monday Night Football.