THE MIRACLE OF OMAHA

AFTER ESCAPING AN IMPOVERISHED CHILDHOOD AND SURVIVING A GUNSHOT WOUND AT 20, TERENCE CRAWFORD EARNED MORE THAN $100 MILLION IN HIS CAREER AS A BOXER. WITH WARREN BUFFETT IN HIS CORNER, THE 38-YEAR-OLD CHAMPION IS NOW STARING DOWN THE ULTIMATE OPPONENT—FATHER TIME.

- BY JUSTIN BIRNBAUM

DAYS BEFORE the biggest fight of his career, a championship bout against Canelo Álvarez in Las Vegas in September, unbeaten Terence “Bud” Crawford received a presumptuous addition to his watch collection. WatchGuys, a luxury reseller, gifted him a $15,000 Rolex Submariner, and even though he was 48 hours away from facing one of the toughest opponents in boxing history, the inscription on the back of the timepiece boldly predicted his new record: 42-0.

“They believed in me that much that they knew I’m going to win,” says Crawford, 38, reflecting on the victory by unanimous decision from inside B&B Sports Academy, his boxing gym in Omaha, Nebraska. “I had it in my mind that [Álvarez] wasn’t beating me. There was nothing he could do to win that night.”

The soft-spoken Crawford has preferred to let his fists do the talking over the course of his 17-year professional career, which includes 31 knockouts, 18 world championships across five divisions and three undisputed titles. But by jumping up two weight classes to defeat the heavily favored Álvarez, he cemented his place in the boxing pantheon alongside other prizefighting icons of his era, including Manny Pacquiao and Oleksandr Usyk.

Such an audacious gamble, putting his undefeated record on the line to fight the much larger Álvarez, came with an even bigger financial reward: the largest payday of his career.