Terence Crawford has clinched a unanimous victory over Saul “Canelo” Alvarez to become the undisputed super middleweight champion in a thrilling contest at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
Crawford set the pace from the start on Saturday night with a measured display that showcased his incredible hand speed and precise footwork, as the judges scored the fight 116-112, 115-113 and 115-113 in favour of the American.
The victory made Crawford the first male boxer to be crowned an undisputed champion in three different weight classes.
“I’m not here by coincidence. Canelo is a great champion. I have to take my hat off to him. He’s a great competitor, and I have great respect for him. He fought like a champion,” said Crawford, who was in tears after his win was announced.
Asked if he would fight again, he said: “I don’t know, I have to sit down with my team and we’ll talk about it.
“I want to say thank you to all the supporters and the haters. I appreciate you all. Shout out to my fans and those supporting Canelo. We get to go home to our children.”
With Alvarez and Crawford both having been recognised as the world’s top pound-for-pound boxers in the past, the fight always promised to be a boxing masterclass.
The pair delivered an entertaining battle that had more than 70,000 people in attendance and millions on Netflix watching with bated breath throughout the 12-round showcase.
Crawford, a former undisputed champion at both light welterweight and welterweight, as well as a four-division world champion, stepped up two weight classes for the bout.
He tipped the scales at a career-high 167.5 pounds (75.98 kg) at the weigh-in on Friday, the same as Alvarez, but that step-up did not appear to affect his mobility.
Keenly aware of his opponent’s superior power, Crawford was the better boxer for much of the bout and expertly neutralised Alvarez’s offence with a treacherous balancing act.
The 37-year-old maintained his distance as he flitted in and out of danger, landing flurries of blows on his opponent. The attritional assault by the smaller boxer put Alvarez on the back foot.
The Mexican champion connected with a few body shots early on, but after being outboxed throughout the first half, he threw caution to the wind and retaliated with brute force in search of a knockout.
That knockout never came.
If anything, Crawford only grew in confidence, landing devastating combinations and absorbing any punches that sneaked through his guard as he improved his record to 42-0 (31 knockouts) and kept his remarkable unbeaten streak alive.
For Alvarez, there was pride even in defeat.
“I’m a winner for being here. The fact I’m here makes me a winner. I take risks and that’s what I did,” the 35-year-old said.
“I feel great to share the ring with great fighters like him. If we do it again, then it’ll be great. I already accomplished a lot in boxing. My legacy is already there, and I like taking risks because I love boxing.”
This fight was already being compared with some of the greatest in Las Vegas’s rich history well before the two contestants tapped gloves.
Never in question was beating the attendance record for a Las Vegas fight – previously 29,214 in 1982 for heavyweight champion Larry Holmes’s 13th-round knockout of Gerry Cooney at Caesars Palace’s specially constructed outdoor stadium – would fall on this night.
But this fight’s impact went beyond Las Vegas. Because it was on Netflix rather than pay-per-view, promoters hoped the card would draw in viewing numbers not seen since perhaps the 1970s, when big-time bouts often were on broadcast networks.
This could be more the norm going forward now that UFC President and CEO Dana White is involved in boxing, this being his first card in collaboration with fellow promoter Riyadh Season.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) reached a seven-year deal with Paramount last month, choosing to put its product on the streaming service rather than the pay-per-view (PPV) model that combat sports have used for their most important events.
Meanwhile, on the undercard, Ireland’s Callum Walsh beat Fernando Vargas Jr, while super middleweights Christian Mbilli and Lester Martinez delivered a slugfest that ended in a draw.
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