In front of 70,000 fans at the Allegiant Stadium on September 14, Saturday night, Terrence “Bud” Crawford showed a masterpiece of a fight against Canelo Alvarez. Crawford dominated the ring against legendary boxer Canelo Alvarez in a 12-round bout while creating history in the process with a unanimous decision and taking Alvarez’s undisputed super middleweight title, with the judges scoring 116-112, 115-113 and 115-113 for Crawford.
Terrence Crawford (42-0, 31 KOs) climbed two divisions, starting from 154 pounds to 168 pounds, to challenge Canelo Alvarez (63-3-2, 39 KOs) in a match on September 13, Crawford would become the first male boxer to become an undisputed champion in three weight classes (junior welterweight, welterweight, and super welterweight) in the four-belt era. The four-belt era in boxing refers to the period beginning in 2007, where all four sanctioning bodies, the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Council (WBC), the International Boxing Federation (IBF) and World Boxing Organization (WBO); world championships were recognized for each weight class.
During the match, Crawford constantly utilized his speed and agility with his quick hand and foot movements, stifling four-division champion Alvarez from closing in and delivering his powerful shots.
As the bell rang, commencing the start of the match, Crawford and Alvarez would keep their distance, clearly hesitant at first, yet as the rounds continued, Crawford kept the pressure on Alvarez as he landed multiple jabs towards Alvarez’s head. This became a theme throughout the fight, Crawford would aim for the head in contrast to Alvarez aiming for mostly body shots.
In rounds one through four, Crawford was able to land multiple jabs on Alvarez as he maneuvered throughout the ring. Crawford and Alvarez would continue to trade punches, with Crawford hitting multiple combinations on Alvarez. Alvarez also lands heavy left and right punches on Crawford’s body as he attempts to get inside. These attempts from Alvarez were not enough as in those four rounds Crawford would lead, 40-36.
Not much would happen in the fifth round other than Alvarez’s upper body keeping him out of trouble as both fighters exchange powerful shots, but Crawford would manage to sneak in a right hand. Alvarez takes the round 10-9. 49-46 Crawford.
Round six starts with both fighters exchanging shots to the body; however, Crawford would start getting the better of Alvarez. As soon as Alvarez would land a shot, Crawford would counter and rip his own into Alvarez, allowing Crawford to take the round. 59-55 Crawford.
Throughout the later rounds, Alvarez would try to gain momentum against Crawford by trying to sneak inside and landing some heavy punches to Crawford’s body. However, Crawford would quickly counter with combinations of his own, ending Alvarez’s momentum and starting his own. Before Alvarez could continue to land more punches on Crawford, he would slip away, enabling Alvarez to follow with no avail, as there was nothing much for him to do.
As the twelfth round started nearing the end of the match, both Alvarez and Crawford started getting into it, with both getting close and trading punches. Alvarez tries to summon something special, but Crawford is feeling it. Alvarez lunges towards Crawford but gets hit with a right hand. Crawford would continue throwing combinations towards Alvarez, which Alvarez would continue to eat up. Another combination thrown towards Alvarez from Crawford would have him staggering to the final bell. Crawford would end the match with an unofficial scorecard of 118-110.
