The upcoming September 13th card set to be headlined by Mexican undisputed super middleweight (168 lbs) champion Canelo Alvarez (63-2-2, 39 KO’s) and American former undisputed welterweight (147 lbs) champion Terence Crawford (41-0, 31 KO’s) has finally seen its undercard completed, but notably suffers from a lack of star power.
Promoted by Dana White and Turki Alalshikh’s promotion of Zuffa Boxing and Sela, the September card will run in accordance with the Mexican Independence Day weekend that was originally planned to be a multi-day event that would feature more undercards held over three or four days.
Since then, TKO Group, has opted to host both a WWE and UFC show that will be held on September 12 and September 13 respectively. Both promotions are subsidiaries of TKO.
The best-known name on the card is Ukrainian super welterweight (154 lbs) contender Serhii Bohachuk (26-2, 24 KO’s) who will be facing American contender Brandon Adams (25-4, 16 KO’s) in a rematch of their 2021 fight which saw the former stop the latter.
American contender and Crawford’s stablemate Steven Nelson (20-1, 16 KO’s) will further be complementing the card with a comeback bout against Cuban contender Raiko Santana (12-4, 6 KO’s) following a recent loss to 168-pound contender Diego Pacheco.
Billed as the co-main event, another super middleweight bout between French WBC interim champion Christian M’billi (29-0, 24 KO’s) and Guatemalan challenger Lester Martinez (19-0, 16 KO’s) will transpire on the show, while a heavyweight (200+ lbs) contest between American Jermaine Franklin Jr. (23-2, 15 KO’s) and Ukrainian Ivan Dychko (15-0, 14 KO’s) is further aiming to help the undercard.
With Irish fighter Callum Walsh (14-0, 11 KO’s) and American contender Fernando Vargas Jr. (17-0, 15 KO’s) ― son of former professional Fernando Vargas ― also included on the card in a fight at 154 pounds, the Sela/Zuffa-organized event seems to be lacking the same star-studded cast of fighters as seen on Alalshikh’s The Ring or Riyadh Season cards.
Attributing to the absence of more well-known names could be the dual role Dana White has taken in promoting both the upcoming Canelo-Crawford bout as the owner of Zuffa while further hosting a UFC event on the same day, drawing questions as to his involvement and acumen in matchmaking and promoting the boxing card.
White unveiled the full undercard earlier this week in a lackluster promotional video released on social media that was notably mocked by Oscar De La Hoya,
