How Crawford-Alvarez upended the superfight?

""I'M THE ONE that made him go after Canelo," Carl Washington says some three months before the biggest fight of the year. And maybe the last battle of its kind. He's talking about Terence Crawford, whom he calls Bud. Washington is especially excited since it's the sort of fight Crawford has sought for years. A pathway to prove how great he is. And who better to do that against than the modern day face of the sport: Saul "Canelo" Álvarez?"

"If anyone would know who Crawford needed to fight, it's Washington. He's the one who runs a boxing gym in downtown Omaha. The one who almost 30 years ago asked a school-age boy who lived in the house behind his, if he wanted to box. That was Bud. "I said, 'You know what your dream fight would be?'" Washington continues. "'Canelo. Then you and your grandkids can retire.'""

""Bud was a mean little kid," Washington says. He tells a story of the first time Crawford stepped in the ring and became so angry and frustrated from being punched that tears of anger flooded his eyes. He tore his gloves off, wanting to fight bareknuckle against his opponent. "Bud just started wailing on him, didn't want to stop," Washington remembers. "It happened in that corner over there," he says while pointing at a ring where boxers have begun to warm up."

Carl Washington, owner of CW Boxing Club in downtown Omaha, introduced a young Terence Crawford to boxing and pushed him toward the highest challenges, including a matchup with Saul 'Canelo' Álvarez. Crawford trained in Washington's neighborhood and grew into a fighter driven to prove his greatness on the sport's biggest stages. Young boxers at the gym still contend with regional obscurity from Nebraska, and Washington recalls Crawford's early ferocity—tears of anger, ripped gloves and an urge to fight bareknuckle. Washington predicted Crawford would become a world champion and views the Canelo fight as a career-defining opportunity.

Read at ESPN.com