Max Kellerman added to broadcast team for Canelo Alvarez-Terence Crawford fight

Former ESPN host Max Kellerman is back as he was announced as part of the broadcast team for the Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford fight in September. UFC president Dana White, who’s promoting the fight for Zuffa Boxing, made the announcement Sunday.

Kellerman’s largely been out of the spotlight since his departure from First Take and other ESPN projects. Amid a lot of noise and criticism being lobbed at his former TV partner Stephen A. Smith, Kellerman stayed what seemed to be in hiding.

But now, he’s going back to his boxing roots and will be on the broadcast team for a fight that’s set to be on Netflix on September 13th. The Super Middleweight Championship will be on the line. 

“I know you guys are excited about this fight. But I don’t think you understand what a big deal it is. This is a perfect storm,” Kellerman said after being introduced by White. “First of all, [Saudi Arabia General Entertainment Authority chairman] Turki Alalshikh, we’re lucky he happens to be a boxing fan. None of this happens if he doesn’t happen to be a boxing fan. If he doesn’t happen to be a boxing fan, none of us are here. [WWE President] Nick Khan, the best in the business. Dana White is the greatest combat sports promoter of my lifetime. And it’s his first-ever boxing promotion. So that’s who’s behind what you’re gonna see.

“Who’s the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world? The most recent one? Bud Crawford… has my vote for best pound-for-pound. Who was the best pound-for-pound before Bud? Canelo Álvarez, universally recognized that way… there have only been, I don’t now, 25 or 30 fighters whoever lived who you said, ‘that’s the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.’ These are two of them, the last two. And they’re going to fight. In Las Vegas. On September 13th… this fight is a perfect storm, I could not be more excited to be a part of it.”

In addition to his role on First Take, Kellerman also hosted an ESPN radio show called Keyshawn, JWill and Max and had expanded the network’s boxing coverage at the time. But, he was laid off in June of 2023 and hasn’t returned to the sports media spotlight since. He was also the original host of Around The Horn before Tony Reali took over that role.

Kellerman’s boxing experience on television also stems from HBO. He was a studio commentator with Brian Kenny on Friday Night Fights and a color commentator for HBO World Championship Boxing and Boxing After Dark.

The 51-year-old was a graduate of Columbia University. Kellerman’s been working in sports media covering boxing and eventually pretty much everything else since the late 1990s.