Former heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder was ringside for Terrence Crawford’s victory over Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez this past weekend and didn’t agree with the judges scorecards.
This much-anticipated super-middleweight showdown saw ‘Bud’ moving up two weights to become the first-ever three-weight undisputed champion in the four-belt era.
He boxed smart for the whole 12 rounds and used slick defences and great hand speed to land a high volume of shots as Canelo marched forward, throwing heavier shots, but landing less often.
Canelo’s best round was the fifth when he seemed to be getting to his man, but Crawford sensed it and came out in the sixth to reassert himself, and never took his foot off the gas from there on, securing a unanimous decision from the judges.
Speaking to Boxing King Media, Wilder gave his view on Crawford’s performance, believing the American won every round.
“It was no pressure on Crawford at all, he can go both ways, orthodox southpaw, he don’t crack under pressure, you gotta be a real fighter to go like that. I had him winning all the rounds, it was a flush, know what I mean.”
When it was pointed out that Crawford only actually won it by one round, with the scores reading 116-112, 115-113 and 115-113, Wilder was incredulous.
“That’s a lie, that’s a f***ing lie, he won all the rounds, period.”
Wilder has fought just once in around 18 months when he stopped Tyrrell Herndon in June inside seven rounds. Before that, he was stopped by Zhilei Zhang, he was beaten on points by Joseph Parker and lost two out of three of his fights with Brit Tyson Fury.
He has vowed to fight on and get back to world level, but at 39 and with all the belts currently held by Oleksandr Usyk, time is running out.
