Terence Crawford scored the biggest win of his career Saturday night as he earned a unanimous decision over Canelo Álvarez in Las Vegas.
Álvarez was the more efficient puncher, but Crawford had a clear edge in volume. Bud connected on 115 blows at a 21.5 percent rate compared to 99 and 29.3 percent for Canelo. Crawford has 31 knockouts across his professional career and reeled off nine straight wins by KO or TKO prior to his victory over Israil Madrimov in August 2024. The southpaw adopted a measured approach. He attempted 326 jabs, with 45 finding the mark. Canelo only landed 16 jabs.
Assuming his career doesn’t encounter any big unforeseen setbacks from this point forward, this will be a legacy-defining moment for Crawford. He’s now a world champion in a fifth different division, becoming the undisputed king of super middleweights. He beat one of the brightest talents of his generation in the process. A rematch between Crawford and Álvarez could be on the cards. Saturday night was a massive commercial success, and it delivered the sporting spectacle every fan hoped for.
Terence Crawford versus Canelo Alvarez was the biggest boxing match in quite some time, and it lived up to the billing as the two champions put on a show in what turned into a unanimous decision win for Crawford. However, as exciting as the action turned out to be, it was more lopsided than most expected, with the underdog Crawford controlling things from the start. That only continued in the latter stages of the fight when Crawford landed the biggest highlight of the night, a massive left cross that momentarily stunned Alvarez in an almost cartoonish way. Alvarez’s reaction to the punch became an instant meme.