LAS VEGAS (AP) — Boxing's most-anticipated fight in years, Canelo Alvarez against Terence Crawford, will be in Las Vegas on Sept. 13 after much speculation that it would take place in Saudi Arabia.
The fight for the unified super middleweight championship is part of Alvarez's reported $400 million, minimum four-fight deal with Riyadh Season. One of those fights can be in another location, and Las Vegas has become the boxing home for the Mexican champion.
Riyadh Season is working with UFC CEO Dana White to promote the fight. This is White's first foray into boxing as part of an effort to become a major player in the sport.
“Are you kidding me that the first boxing fight I’m going to get to promote is Canelo vs. Crawford?” White said in a statement. "It’s literally a once in a lifetime fight."
Alvarez (63-2-2) unified the division by defeating William Scull by unanimous decision in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on May 3. Crawford, who is from Omaha, Nebraska, attended that bout, and the four-division champ who is 41-0 announced in the ring with Alvarez that they would meet in September.
“I’m ready to show once again that I am the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world,” Alvarez said in a statement.
Added Crawford: “My perfect record speaks for itself. I am the best fighter in the world and no matter the opponent or weight class, I have always come out on top. On September 13, my hand will be raised once again as the world watches greatness.”
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FILE - Canelo Alvarez reacts before fighting Edgar Berlanga in a super middleweight title bout Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)
ALEPPO, Syria (AP) — Kurdish fighters were evacuated from a contested neighborhood in Syria's northern city of Aleppo, officials said early Sunday, a move that could bring an end to several days of violent clashes with government forces.
State-run news agency SANA reported buses transported the last of the fighters from the Aleppo neighborhood of Sheikh Maqsoud to northeastern Syria, which is under the control of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.
“Through international mediation to halt the attacks and violations against our people in Aleppo, we have reached an understanding leading to a ceasefire and the safe evacuation of martyrs, the wounded, trapped civilians, and fighters from the Achrafieh and Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhoods to northern and eastern Syria," SDF commander Mazloum Abdi said in a post on X.
He called for “mediators to uphold their promises to stop the violations and work towards the safe return of the displaced to their homes.”
An Associated Press journalist at the scene saw buses leaving Sunday and was told by officials that the transports carried 360 fighters. Other buses carrying civilians and detained fighters departed on Saturday.
Syrian security forces deployed Saturday in Sheikh Maqsoud after days of clashes with Kurdish fighters that killed and wounded dozens.
During the day, several drone strikes were reported in Aleppo, Syria's largest city, leading authorities to stop civilian flights at Aleppo International Airport until further notice, state TV said.
On Saturday afternoon, an explosive drone hit the Aleppo Governorate building shortly after two Cabinet ministers and a local official held a news conference on the developments in the city. There was no immediate word on casualties.
Syria’s state TV aired footage showing a drone exploding as it slammed into the building and blamed Kurdish fighters for the attack. The SDF denied the reports, saying its fighters did not attack a civilian target.
The fighting between the two sides is the most intense since the fall of then-President Bashar Assad in December 2024. At least 22 people were killed in five days of clashes and more than 140,000 were displaced.
U.S. Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack held talks in Damascus Saturday with top officials, including President Ahmad al-Sharaa, and called on all parties to cease hostilities and return to dialogue.
“Violence risks undermining the progress achieved since the fall of the Assad regime and invites external interference that serves no party’s interests,” Barrack said in comments posted on X. “We urge all parties to exercise maximum restraint, immediately cease hostilities, and return to dialogue,” he added, saying that fighting undermines the deal reached in March between the government and the Kurdish leadership.
He said recent developments in Aleppo were “deeply concerning,” and Washington's objective “remains a sovereign, unified Syria — at peace with itself and its neighbors — where equality, justice, and opportunity are extended to all its people.”
Syria’s state news agency SANA reported that two Kurdish fighters blew themselves up while surrounded by security forces without inflicting casualties, as gunfire was still heard in the neighborhood of Sheikh Maqsoud around noon Saturday.
From the early hours, Syrian security forces were sweeping the neighborhood after calling on residents to stay home for their own safety.
Hundreds of people who fled the neighborhood days earlier were waiting at Sheikh Maqsoud’s entrances to be allowed in once the military operations are over.
Clashes broke out Tuesday in the predominantly Kurdish northern neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Achrafieh and Bani Zaid, after the government and the Syrian Democratic Forces, the main Kurdish-led force in the country, failed to make progress on how to merge their forces into the national army. Security forces have since captured Achrafieh and Bani Zaid.
Kurdish forces said at least 12 civilians were killed in the Kurdish-majority neighborhoods in the five days of fighting, while government officials reported at least 10 civilians were killed in the surrounding government-controlled areas.
Syria’s Information Minister Hamza al-Mustafa told state TV that Kurdish fighters used civilian buildings including hospitals and clinics during the fighting. Each side has accused the other of starting the violence and of deliberately targeting civilian neighborhoods and infrastructure, including ambulance crews and hospitals.
The Kurdish-led Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, which controls much of Syria’s northeast, said that security forces targeted Khaled Fajr Hospital in Sheikh Maqsoud, putting the lives of patients and paramedics in danger. It called on the international community to intervene to force government forces to stop shelling.
State TV reported that at least one security member was wounded when a drone fired by the SDF struck the neighborhood.
Associated Press journalists said bursts of gunfire could be heard as government-deployed drones flew over Sheikh Maqsoud.
The Syrian military declared the neighborhood a “closed military zone” since Friday night as it launched a “clearing operation.”
On Friday, Barrack discussed the developments in Syria with Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi in Amman. The U.S. envoy said Jordan offered support to efforts aimed at consolidating the ceasefire and the peaceful withdrawal of Kurdish fighters from Aleppo.
Associated Press writer Bassem Mroue contributed to this report from Beirut.
Civilians evacuate an area of the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
Civilians evacuate an area of the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
A woman and her children react with distress as civilians evacuate an area of the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
Civilians evacuate an area of the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
Civilians evacuate an area of the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)
Kurdish citizens wave their group and Lebanese flags during a protest against the Syrian government military operation in Aleppo, in front the United Nations headquarters in Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Civilians evacuate an area of the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)
A Syrian police convoy secures the area just outside the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)
A Syrian police convoy gathers in the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)
