Terence “Bud” Crawford moved to 42-0 and became undisputed champion in a third weight class with a performance of bravery and immense skill as he outpointed super middleweight champ and fellow future Hall of Famer Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in Las Vegas on Saturday night. Here are one bleary-eyed observer’s thoughts after the Netflix broadcast ended past 2 a.m. ET.
1. Terence Crawford is an all-time great
Early in fight week for Terence Crawford’s Omaha, Nebraska, homecoming against Yuriorkos Gamboa, I bumped into my then-HBO colleague Jim Lampley in the hotel. I mentioned something to the effect of fully expecting Crawford to do great things – not just against Gamboa but also in the future, and Jim responded with something to the effect that he regarded him as the best American boxer of his generation.
Everything Crawford has done since then has only validated those early opinions. Bud has barely put a foot wrong in the ring; if he has made any mistake in his career, it was re-signing with Top Rank in 2018 when the best opposition around his weight class was across the street with PBC. That probably prevented him from fully showing his very best against the very best until he annihilated Errol Spence Jnr in 2023.
But over the past few years, even if we haven't seen enough of Crawford, what we have seen has highlighted just how good he can be. Saturday night should finally lay to rest any remaining doubts.
And what an era in which to be a boxing fan, for Oleksandr Usyk is every bit on the same level, and Naoya Inoue isn’t too shabby, either. The only question is how much longer any of them will be around.
2. This was coming for Canelo
Canelo Alvarez is sailing into the Hall of Fame. He will go down as one of the definitive fighters of his generation and one of the best to come out of Mexico. This loss diminishes his status in the short term, but in the long run his legacy is secure.
That said, there was a reason many of us picked Crawford, and it wasn't just Bud’s brilliance. After a lifetime of taking on the very best, Alvarez has, over the past couple of years, been coasting. His punch output, always selective, has fallen and he has lacked the stamina to maintain the kind of pressure through 12 full rounds to finish off overmatched foes. Add in the injuries he has increasingly been carrying and the inevitable wear and tear of 68 pro fights, and the stage was set for a potential upset – even if it took the singular skills of Terence Crawford to execute it.
3. Callum Walsh didn't flunk the audition, but he didn't ace it, either
Callum Walsh is a solid junior middleweight prospect-slash-contender. His trainer, Freddie Roach, loves him, and so too does Dana White, who has been effectively bankrolling his career.
That, rather than anything he has done in the ring to this point, is why he secured co-main event status on such a big card. And he defeated Fernando Vargas Jnr perfectly comfortably.
But 15 fights into his pro career, Walsh has yet to show us exactly why such prominent figures in the sport think so highly of him. He remains undefeated, but he still has yet to produce a performance to truly make anyone sit up and take notice. He's still young and there's plenty of time, but so far Walsh seems to be in perennially solid contender territory rather than a great champion-in-waiting.
4. Sometimes the right winner is no winner
When Michael Buffer read out the final score in the super middleweight slugfest between Christian Mbilli and Lester Martinez, confirming that the contest had ended in a draw, the crowd at Allegiant Stadium sounded deflated.
Understandably so: Fans don't go to fights to watch draws. Draws are for people like me, who love soccer. And it's unsurprising that Mbili and Martinez also both looked devastated: The two men had left everything in the ring in an incredibly tough, fast-paced, hard-punching affair. It must be devastating to sink so much effort into, and suffer so much pain and discomfort during, a fight for no reward. What was even the point?
But not only was a draw a perfectly reasonable score, in many ways it was the appropriate one. Mbili and Martinez clearly both felt they had done enough to win, but nobody deserved to lose. Probably no need to throw them into a rematch just yet, however: let them go their separate ways and perhaps meet again down the road with more at stake.
5. The broadcast had its good points and bad points
The undercard bled into the main broadcast by 15 minutes, which may not seem like a big deal, but it is a sign of a promotion that doesn't take the pacing of an event seriously. Partly as a consequence, by 10:30 p.m., 90 minutes after the show started, we had seen precisely one fight – and an uninspiring one at that.
One hour later, we had had just one more fight, although the way in which Mbili and Martinez had fought in the interim made the time pass much faster. Fortunately, the pace picked up considerably thereafter, but we still had to sit through filler interviews and musical acts to get to the main event, and East Coasters were left with a 1:45 a.m. final bell.
Apart from that, the broadcast was a mixed bag. The fighter profiles immediately before each bout were well done. Max Kellerman and Andre Ward mostly did a very good job of catering to both hardcore fans and recognizing that the platform almost certainly meant that there were a lot of casual fans watching. It didn't feel right to hear those two back in the booth without Jim Lampley, however.
There was also too much Turki Alalshikh and Dana White nut-hugging – but nothing quite on the scale of what we saw at the final press conference. At this point, it is what it is.
In the end, little of that mattered. At its heart, boxing has never been about promoters or media outlets or broadcasters, it has always been about the brave athletes who lay it on the line. And on this night, one of the best ever rose to the challenge.
Kieran Mulvaney has written, broadcast and podcast about boxing for HBO, Showtime, ESPN and Reuters, among other outlets. He presently co-hosts the “Fighter Health Podcast” with Dr. Margaret Goodman. He also writes regularly for National Geographic, has written several books on the Arctic and Antarctic, including most recently Arctic Passages: Ice, Exploration, and the Battle for Power at the Top of the World, and is at his happiest hanging out with wild polar bears. His website is www.kieranmulvaney.com.
