Terence Crawford cemented his place as the pound-for-pound number one fighter in the world with a victory over Canelo Alvarez.
Crawford was able to pull off the upset victory by defeating Canelo by unanimous decision at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, becoming the undisputed super-middleweight world champion in the process.
‘Bud’ looked in control for the majority of the contest in his 168lb debut, with Canelo seemingly struggling to deal with the sharp movement and fast hands of his American opponent.
The judges scored the bout 116-112, 115-113 and 115-113 in favour of Crawford, who has made history as the first male fighter to ever become undisputed in three divisions, having already achieved it at super-lightweight and welterweight in the past.
Heading into the bout, many fans felt that the jump up in weight would prove to be too much for ‘Bud’ to handle, especially due to Canelo showing his power as high as 175lbs in the past when he needed just one shot to knock out Sergey Kovalev.
Crawford has now revealed exactly what he thought of Canelo’s punching ability, revealing on the Netflix post-fight show that ‘he’s been hit harder’ – as he expected the Mexican icon to have more power.
“He didn’t hit as hard as I thought he would. He’s definitely technical but I been hit harder.”
It’s currently unknown what will be next for both Crawford and Canelo following their fight, but it hasn’t taken Alvarez’s ex-promoter Oscar De La Hoya long to offer his thoughts on the defeat of his former protégé.
