LAS VEGAS – Standing now as a historic three-division undisputed champion in a four-belt era, Terence Crawford on Saturday posted a victory for the ages by dissecting fellow pound-for-pound elite Saul “Canelo” Alvarez at Allegiant Stadium.
On unanimous decision scores of 115-113 (judge Tim Cheatham), 115-113 (Max DeLuca) and 116-112 (Steve Weisfeld), Crawford, 42-0 (31 KOs), added a distinguishing fifth division title, capping a move up three divisions since his August 2023 undisputed welterweight triumph.
In this super middleweight masterpiece, Crawford, 37, stifled four-division champion Alvarez, 63-3-2 (39 KOs), with superior hand and foot movement, masterful tactics and the patented chip on his shoulder that silenced the hostile crowd of 70,482 on Mexican Independence weekend.
He sobbed as the scores were read.
Crawford started in a southpaw stance as the pair began tentatively. An extra combination by Alvarez likely gave him the first.
Snapping jabs and hooks from the right hand, Crawford found his mark more often than Alvarez early in the second and felt an Alvarez power shot to the head, shrugging it off.
Crawford’s speed advantage was displayed in the third as he slipped a rush by Alvarez and landed a left hand to the head, continuing to out-jab Alvarez.
Two excellent combinations by Crawford early in the fourth emphasized he was leading, inspiring Alvarez to pursue more aggressively to land two power rights.
Evasive but in control, Crawford remained in his southpaw pose in the fifth, frustrating Alvarez by landing when he approached, and laughing when touched by punches.
A combination and hard left brought another smile to Crawford’s face before he felt a stomach punch. Returning to popping scoring punches and dodging blows, Crawford closed a stirring first half of the fight.
Opening the seventh with multiple scoring combinations again, Crawford showed that the slowing Alvarez struggled through in his flat May victory over Cuba’s William Scull in Saudi Arabia is a trend.
Hitting the body and the head in the eighth left Alvarez nodding in angst over his disadvantages. He sought to apply pressure, but maintaining it meant chasing and catching fitness dynamo Crawford, and Alvarez couldn’t sustain it.
Crawford paused from eye pain due to a headbutt in the ninth, after Alvarez darted intently into a fierce exchange, seeking to land a knockout blow that never came.
Proving he was up for all of it, Crawford remained busy and better in the 10th and 11th as the resignation struck Alvarez fully, especially when he was rocked to close the12th.
With the financial push of his supportive Saudi Arabia boxing financier Turki Alalshkh, Crawford gained the rare ability to land the massive fight after languishing in that effort previously, despite becoming a two-division undisputed champion.
It was only when Crawford left his early promoter Top Rank that he gained a long-awaited shot for the undisputed welterweight title against Errol Spence Jnr, of rival promotion Premier Boxing Champions in 2023.
A year later, after befriending Alalshikh, Crawford gained a main event in Los Angeles and became a four-division champion by defeating then-WBA 154lbs titleholder Israil Madrimov by narrow decision in August 2024.
The weight divide between Crawford and Alvarez always seemed prohibitive to a showdown between the era’s pound-for-pound elites, but then Alalshikh promised more than $100 million to Alvarez and the Mexican signed up for it in a renewal of his traditional Mexican Independence weekend spot in Las Vegas, dating back to 2012.
Alvarez, 35, was coming off a stretch of not stopping an opponent since he defeated Caleb Plant by TKO in 2021. His most recent victory, over the evasive Scull in Saudi Arabia for the undisputed mantle, was widely panned for its inaction.
Alvarez has been criticized for avoiding the best fighters in his own division and selecting lighter or overmatched foes like Jermell Charlo, Jaime Munguia, Edgar Berlanga and Scull.
In Crawford, 37, however, he took on a fiercely competitive, two-handed power puncher who spent a year reshaping his body with muscular weight while sparring with the likes of Guatemalan gym mate Lester Martinez, who shined earlier Saturday in battling WBC interim 168lbs titleholder Christian Mbilli to a draw that should be a Fight of the Year candidate.
And Saturday, Alvarez discovered fully that no one in his era prepares as diligently – and that no one is better than – Terence Crawford.
Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.
