In front of a crowd of 70,482 fans, an undisputed super-middleweight world title matchup that was being advertised as the fight of the decade took place between two future Hall of Famers, as the challenger Terence “Bud” Crawford made it look easy, by defeating the defending champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (63-3-2, 39 KOs) via unanimous decision.
Crawford executed his game plan to perfection, as he controlled the distance, landed his offense, never overcommitted, and stayed defensively responsible. It was a frustrating night for Canelo Alvarez because he had his moments, but he wasn’t able to enforce his will.
A few years ago, Terence Crawford said he wouldn’t fight Canelo because of the weight disparity, and Canelo stated he wouldn’t fight Crawford because if he won, he wouldn’t get the credit. As time went on, Crawford attended a few of Canelo’s fights and discovered a few things he felt he could capitalize on.
Once he made the discovery, Terence Crawford began his quest to land a fight with Canelo Alvarez. Unfortunately for Crawford, Canelo wasn’t interested, but once Turki Alalshikh entered the equation and provided the financial incentive, the fight was made.
In the opening round of the undisputed super-middleweight contest, the switch-hitter Terence Crawford came out in the southpaw stance. Crawford dictated the pace of the first round as he utilized feints and threw the jab.
Bud Crawford started the second round with lateral movement, feints, and continued to land the jab. Later in the same round, Crawford was able to plant his feet and connect with a few solid combinations.
Crawford opened up the 4th round by landing a flurry of solid punches, but later on in the fourth, Canelo connected with the right hand on multiple occasions. Early in the sixth round, Crawford got Alvarez’s attention when he landed a hard left-hand shot.
For the second half of the sixth, and for the majority of the seventh round, Crawford continued to outbox Canelo. In the eighth round, Canelo pressed forward and was able to land some solid shots to the body.
At the start of the 9th round, Crawford landed a flurry of shots. Approximately one minute into the ninth, an accidental headbutt opened up a cut over Crawford’s right eye. However, the cut didn’t affect Crawford as he continued to engage in back-and-forth action.
Alvarez connected with a solid overhand right in the 10th round, but Crawford responded by landing a flurry of shots. As soon as round 11 started, Canelo landed a hard left to the body, but Crawford responded by standing in the pocket and connecting with the uppercut and the straight left hand.
The challenger Terence Crawford continued to outbox Canelo Alvarez through the course of the 12th and final round. At the conclusion of the contest, Terence Crawford was declared the unanimous decision winner by the scores of 116-112, 115-113, 115-113.
With the victory, Terence “Bud” Crawford (42-0, 31 KOs) made history by becoming a three-division undisputed world champion. On the night of September 13th at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, live on Netflix, Terence Crawford silenced the doubters and made his case for being the best boxer of his era.
Last Updated on 09/14/2025
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