More than 70,000 spectators will witness oversized fight but smallest margins will decide outcome Las Vegas has staged its share of blockbuster fight nights but nothing on the scale of what is coming this weekend,On Saturday night at Allegiant Stadium, the $2bn (£1,47bn) home of the NFL’s Raiders, Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez will defend his undisputed super-middleweight crown against Terence Crawford in front of more than 70,000 spectators, by far the largest boxing crowd the city has ever seen,Millions more will watch on Netflix, which is carrying the card at no extra cost to subscribers – a first for a fight of this magnitude and a reminder of how the business of boxing is being remade in real time,For decades, the sport depended on pay-per-view.

Now it is betting that reach and spectacle can replace a buckling model.The timing is no accident: Mexican Independence Day weekend, when this neon-lit metropolis in the Mojave desert becomes a second home for Álvarez and his flag-draped supporters.• Canelo v Crawford: all of your pre-fight questions, answeredWhat's happening?Terence Crawford, the undefeated American boxer who has won world titles in four divisions from 135lb to 154lb, is moving up two weight classes to challenge for the undisputed 168lb championship held by Saúl ‘Canelo’ Álvarez, the Mexican four-weight champion and the sport's biggest star.Where and when is the fight?The scheduled 12-round bout will take place on Saturday night at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, home of the NFL’s Raiders, which is expected to be configured for about 71,835 spectators.It will almost certainly shatter the previous Las Vegas attendance record for boxing: the 29,214 who turned up for the 1982 fight between Larry Holmes and Gerry Cooney at a purpose-built outdoor arena in the Caesars Palace parking lot.

The main card begins at 9pm ET (2am BST on Sunday), with Álvarez and Crawford not expected to make their ringwalks until after 12am ET (5am BST),What belts are on the line?Álvarez's undisputed crown at 168lb is at stake: the WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO titles all on the line,Crawford keeps his WBA belt at 154lb whatever happens,Where can I watch it?For the first time in boxing history, a fight of this magnitude will be streamed live globally on Netflix at no additional cost to subscribers,The stream begins at 9pm ET, with undercard bouts leading into the main event.

Netflix will offer commentary feeds in English and Spanish,Unlike traditional pay-per-view, which often costs US fans around $90, this one is included in a standard subscription,Who else is fighting?The first six undercard bouts not carried by the Netflix stream will be available free on Tudum starting at 5,30pm ET (10,30pm BST).

The entire order of play is as follows:Preliminary card (Tudum, from 5.30pm ET/10.30pm BST)• Serhii Bohachuk v Brandon Adams, 10 rounds, middleweights• Ivan Dychko v Jermaine Franklin Jr, 10 rounds, heavyweights• Reito Tsutsumi v Javier Martinez, six rounds, super featherweights• Sultan Almohamed v Martin Caraballo, four rounds, super lightweights• Steven Nelson v Raiko Santana, 10 rounds, light heavyweights• Marco Verde v Sona Akale, six rounds, 162lb catchweightMain card (Netflix, from 8pm ET/1am BST on Sunday)• Callum Walsh v Fernando Vargas Jr, 10 rounds, junior middleweights• Christian Mbilli v Lester Martinez, 12 rounds, super middleweights• Mohammed Alakel v John Ornelas, 10 rounds, lightweights• Canelo Álvarez v Terence Crawford, 12 rounds, for Alvarez's undisputed super middleweight championshipYet, for a main event of this quality and consequence, the mood around town during fight week has been oddly sedate.Thursday’s final press conference at the T-Mobile Arena was open to the public but drew little more than a thousand fans.It’s expected the crowds will arrive en masse on Friday and the live gate will be eye-watering in the end, but ticket sales have been on the sluggish side, prompting whispers of the Trump slump that has affected local tourism.

The likelier theory is that while most of boxing’s more recent super-fights have required years of wrangling – Mayweather v Pacquiao, Álvarez v Golovkin, Crawford v Spence – this one materialized practically overnight.A year ago, Álvarez v Crawford was more a bar-room flight of fancy than plausible matchup given the weight gulf.Now, suddenly, here it is.Álvarez, 35, is the emperor at 168lb: granite-chinned, a four-weight champion from 154 to 175, boxing’s most bankable name.Crawford, 37, is America’s best fighter since Floyd Mayweather Jr, a champion in four divisions spanning 135 to 154 who has spent more than a decade making elite opponents look ordinary.

The switch-hitting Nebraskan is the quiet craftsman who unified 140, then 147 with a dismantling of Errol Spence Jr so complete that it felt like a mismatch.That he hails from a fistic outpost better known for the production of corn than elite prize-fighters only lends to the lore.This weekend also doubles as the maiden promotion of Zuffa Boxing under TKO Holdings, the company formed by the merger of UFC’s parent group and WWE.It is the first boxing show promoted by Dana White, backed by an ample Turki al-Sheikh investment, and seen as the opening salvo in an attempt to build a rival system of rankings and titles under Saudi control.Behind the scenes, that project is already colliding with Washington politics.

A new Muhammad Ali American Boxing Revival Act has been introduced in Congress, legislation critics say could gut longstanding protections for fighters and hand promoters the power to control titles.That a potential hostile takeover can hide in plain sight the way it has during the equivalent of boxing’s Super Bowl week is a testament to the allure of the main event.When one journalist did raise valid questions on the subject during Thursday’s press conference, White deftly parried before going ad hominem.The oddsmakers have leaned toward Álvarez.He has campaigned at 168lb or above for nearly seven years, his chin stress-tested by heavier men.

Crawford has spent most of his career at 147 or below, with only a brief reconnaissance at 154,Size matters, and so does age,Yet the intrigue lies in Crawford’s record of problem-solving,Time and again, he has spent the early rounds downloading an opponent’s rhythm before flipping the geometry in the middle of the fight,Against Spence two summers ago, Crawford produced a masterclass: three knockdowns and a ninth-round stoppage.

Notably, the odds against him have shortened materially since the fight was announced in June.For Álvarez, victory is legacy maintenance.He has already hoovered up titles across four weight classes, headlined stadiums in two countries and confirmed himself as the sport’s biggest star and one of Mexico’s most recognizable faces.Beating Crawford would add another bullet to the résumé and reaffirm his supremacy at 168.For Crawford, it is legacy transformation.

He is already the first man in the four-belt era to become undisputed champion in two divisions, a feat since matched by Naoya Inoue and Oleksandr Usyk.A third, against Álvarez, on Netflix’s global platform and before the largest fight crowd in Las Vegas history, would vault him from generational talent into the all-time realm of lionhearted weight-jumpers like Harry Greb, Henry Armstrong, Roberto Durán and Manny Pacquiao.Everything about this fight is oversized and breathless: the venue, stakes and TV audience.What happens inside the ropes on Saturday night, though, will come down to the smallest of margins: timing, angles, choices made in the blur of three-minute rounds.It’s in that public accounting where boxing, for all its bloat, still finds its purity.