Terence Crawford became just the third man to defeat Canelo Alvarez this weekend, winning a unanimous decision at the Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas to become the undisputed super-middleweight world champion.
‘Bud’ Crawford boxed superbly to nullify Canelo’s best attributes and frustrated him over 12. As the rounds progressed, the Mexican icon looked less and less dangerous and did not protest the decision going to the challenger.
It marks just the third defeat of Alvarez’s career, having lost to Floyd Mayweather back in 2013 as a young man and then to Dmitry Bivol in 2022 in a move up light-heavyweight.
Mayweather’s masterclass is often played down since Alvarez was not yet in his prime years, but was also seen by some as a blueprint for Crawford to follow. In some ways, he did.
Speaking at the post fight press conference, Alvarez was asked to compare the two fighters.
“I think Crawford is way better than Floyd Mayweather”
Crawford is eight fights away from equalling Mayweather’s undefeated 50-0 record. He was asked himself how he feels his legacy compares, but left it at both he and Mayweather being the best of their respective generations.
Where the switch-hitter from Omaha, Nebraska goes next remains unclear. He has ruled out a drop back down to super-welterweight but said middleweight is a potential. If he did manage to win a world title at 160lbs, it would plug the one gap in his divisional run that started down at lightweight. That would indeed be another step towards any claim to be better than ‘Money’ Mayweather.
