Boxing’s biggest September winners and losers: Canelo Alvarez crashes, Gervonta Davis confuses
September was fun, wasn’t it?
After a summer lull, boxing sprung to life, uncorked a sensational uppercut and set the table for a thrilling run of action to close out 2025.
Pound-for-pound pasts, presents and futures including Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez, Terence Crawford and Gabriela Fundora all recorded wins, Saul "Canelo" Alvarez returned to Las Vegas, Naoya Inoue did Naoya Inoue things, and Dana White dipped his toe in boxing’s murky waters.
But, more importantly, who won and who lost the month?
WINNERS
Terence Crawford
Never mind the month, "Bud" Crawford won the year by defeating "Canelo" up at super middleweight.
The Omaha native built on his unbeaten record by winning the undisputed world title in a third weight class, rubber stamping his spot as a generational great in the process.
And he did it with an arrogant swagger few thought he would be capable of over the bigger, seasoned Mexican. Crawford swept the scorecards and had Alvarez, in moments, questioning his own ability inside the ringed square.
Boxing? Completed it, mate.
Naoya Inoue
You have to feel a little bit for Japan's "Monster," sharing a weekend and month’s headlines with Crawford’s victory over Alvarez.
But Inoue worked some of his own magic in Tokyo in September, making reasonably light work of a man that had been touted as his potential boogeyman for the past few years.
Murodjon "MJ" Akhmadaliev may well have forced the super bantamweight king to hear the final bell for the first time in 2,138 days, but he was outclassed and out-fought over 12 punishing rounds as Inoue waved goodbye to the 122-pound division.
It seems to be a general consensus across the boxing landscape that Inoue now sits at No. 3 in the pound-for-pound rankings due to the exploits of Crawford and Oleksandr Usyk above him.
But a 2026 featherweight clash with fellow Japanese superstar Junto Nakatani could well see us enter an undistinguishable age of 1a, 1b, and 1c fighters at the top of the tree.
Gabriela Fundora
Four years ago, Freddy Fundora — father and trainer to world champions Sebastian and Gabriela — sent me a photo of his daughter, on the cusp of her first professional outing. She didn’t look like a fighter, but that’s kind of the schtick when it comes to the Fundoras.
Big brother Sebastian had just stopped Jorge Cota in devastating fashion en route to claiming super welterweight gold, but Gabriela was stepping onto the first rung of a ladder that eventually culminated in an undisputed world title at flyweight.
The 23-year-old southpaw moved to 17-0 (9 KOs) in September and is well on her way to becoming the face of women’s boxing once the likes of Katie Taylor, Amanda Serrano and Claressa Shields step away from the ring.
But her next step might not be the obvious one. Earlier this year, “Sweet Poison” told me that a move down in weight (to 108 pounds) could be on the cards as she attempts to gather as much gold as possible.
Lewis Crocker
You have to hand it to Belfast’s Lewis Crocker.
You could potentially argue that he has lost 16 rounds to Paddy Donovan across two welterweight scraps this year, but has somehow escaped with two wins and the IBF world title.
Crocker dropped the Limerick southpaw twice en route to a split decision win at Windsor Park in mid-September, becoming the United Kingdom’s second reigning male world champion alongside Liverpool’s Nick Ball.
It’s a fairy-tale run for "The Croc," who was able to make just enough adjustments to stem the fleet-footed Donovan, hurting him early with a cuffing left hook in the third and a cleaner left hand at the end of the fifth.
Rolando "Rolly" Romero, Mario Barrios and Brian Norman Jr. join him in the beltholders club at 147 pounds, and Crocker is now set for a life-changing unification opportunity.
Eduardo "Sugar" Nunez
"Sugar" Nunez has well and truly found a way into Eddie Hearn and Matchroom Boxing’s heart — and you can see why.
The fiery Mexican successfully defended his IBF title at super featherweight in front of a rapturous home crowd in Los Mochis, Mexico, going to war with a suitably game Christopher Diaz.
This Fight of the Year contender was closer than the scorecards suggested at 117-109, 117-109 and 116-110, with a knockdown scored for Nunez in Round 7 potentially molding the narrative of the latter rounds.
Nunez squared off with fellow Mexican and 130-pound world champion Emanuel Navarrete post-fight as Hearn hooped and hollered wearing a Mexican headband.
Sign me up for that.
LOSERS
Dana White
Dana White and TKO/Zuffa Boxing dived head-first into the boxing world this September, promising to change the game with their Canelo vs. Crawford production inside Las Vegas' Allegiant Stadium.
While the fight lived up to the billing, the event itself was a copy-and-paste of everything that has come before, leaving White pictured as a bored-looking outsider sitting ringside for the eight-plus hours that the show ran.
White has also struggled grappling being held to account by boxing’s media, taking a Trumpian approach to criticism. More specifically with Sean Zittel, who quite reasonably asked the 56-year-old — AT A BOXING PRESS CONFERENCE! — about TKO's ongoing plans to circumvent the Ali Act.
Add to that White’s recent announcement that he plans to launch a new Zuffa Boxing world title into the mix and ignore all other world rankings, and it’s becoming increasingly obvious that White is prioritizing disruption over sense.
Saul "Canelo" Alvarez
Listen, it takes a pair of cojones to call "Canelo" Alvarez a loser, but that’s what we do around here — after all, it’s not a winners, losers and in-betweeners column.
Alvarez suffered the third defeat of his career in September against the wizardry of Crawford, adding to those by current and future Hall of Famers Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Dmitry Bivol.
If it wasn’t for Alvarez dragging Crawford up two (three) weight classes, then the Mexican would have been omitted from this month's list entirely, but the former undisputed champion at 168 pounds was made to look old, average and — at times — confused by Crawford.
That’s not what we are used to seeing. Over a decade of dominance, "Canelo" has been a picture of resilience and consistency — even in defeat, he has operated at the very highest level and asked questions of the ringside judges.
But as the final rounds ticked by in Las Vegas, the now 35-year-old resembled a faded champion sleepwalking between monstrous Turki Alalshikh paychecks — not how he would like to be remembered.
Paddy Donovan
This one is just as painful.
Paddy Donovan boxed beautifully for a majority of his 20 rounds with Lewis Crocker, but has come away with two defeats — one via disqualification and one following two knockdowns.
The future is still bright for the Irish welterweight, who is trained by Andy Lee, but he’ll be rightfully reeling after coming out of a sequel with Crocker empty-handed.
The 26-year-old southpaw is already rumored to be in line for a big comeback fight, so many within the Emerald Isle will be hoping this is just a temporary blip in a future success story.
Jake Paul vs. Gervonta "Tank" Davis
Jake Paul vs. "Tank" Davis is, of course, a shameless money-grab — but if treated like a bit of fun, then there’s enough in it to put bums on seats and smiles on faces.
That was my opinion prior to their double-headed press conference in New York City and Miami.
It’s an odd state of affairs when the promotion for a fight makes you want to watch it less, but that was the case as "Tank" struggled to effectively play his role in this gimmick.
The Baltimore career-lightweight looked genuinely confused, half-asleep and irritated by what the adults in the room were forcing him to endure, and struggled to keep up with Paul’s well-rehearsed verbal sparring.
Like I’ve said before: This fight will happen without anything of note happening. Both will get paid handsomely and we’ll wake up in the morning barely remembering it happened.
Enjoy!
Stefy Bull
At the start of this month, Andrew Bulcroft — a.k.a Stefy Bull — was jailed for 10 years for his part in a conspiracy to supply cocaine.
The former trainer of talent including Terri Harper, Jamie McDonnell, Maxi Hughes and Jason Cunningham was sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court after being found guilty following a trial in February.
I mean, without meaning to sound crass, that’s all that needs to be said on that one really.
Boxing on Yahoo! Sports – News, Scores, Standings, Rumors, Fantasy Games
