Terence Crawford further cemented his place at the very top of the pound-for-pound rankings at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, as he became undisputed super middleweight champion with a masterful points win against Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez on Saturday.
Canelo (63-3-2, 39 KOs) arrived as the favourite, and a multi-weight world champion, as well as naturally being the much heavier man. Crawford (42-0, 31 KOs) had also reigned as world champion at several weight classes, from lightweight to super welterweight, and the Nebraskan was last out in August last year, taking a close points win against Israil Madrimov to become WBA champion at 154 pounds.
Crawford began here in the southpaw stance, and a quiet opener was possibly nicked by the Omaha man, who landed a decent combination in the last minute of the first round.
Canelo, who reclaimed the undisputed crown in May with victory over William Scull, shaded the second with good work to head and body, but Crawford imposed himself in the third, a lovely left-hand counter finding the mark.
Alvarez started to impose himself and round four saw him rock Crawford’s head back with a big right hand, and although he dominated the round, Crawford held firm.
After a quieter fifth, Crawford was cranking up the pressure, and he pushed Canelo’s head back with a left hand in the sixth, and landed with a dazzling combination of shots.
‘Bud’ continued the momentum, but had to be on his mettle as Alvarez landed hard to the body in the eighth, and the American started to unload in round nine, with his combination shots really catching the eye.
Many expected the championship rounds to be Crawford’s undoing, but after taking the 10th round off, he got the better of the exchanges in the penultimate frame, before catching Alvarez with a superb left hand in the last round.
The contest went to the scorecards, where the consensus was that Crawford had done enough to get the nod.
So it proved, as two scores of 115-113 and a third at 116-112 confirmed the 37-year-old as the victor, as he further etched himself into boxing folklore.
Walsh overcomes Vargas Jr
Also at super welterweight, Callum Walsh (15-0, 11 KOs) remained unbeaten, taking a landslide win on the cards against Fernando Vargas (17-1, 15 KOs).
Scores of 100-90 and two at 99-91 secured an impressive win.
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Mbilli draws with Martinez
Christian Mbilli was looking to put himself in the shop window for big fights, but the Frenchman was held to a split draw by unbeaten Guatemalan, Lester Martinez in defence of his interim WBC super middleweight title.
One score for Mbilli (29-0-1, 24 KOs) at 96-94, and one for Martinez (19-0-1, 16 KOs) at 97-93 was cancelled out by a third judge ruling the fight a 95-95 draw.
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Franklin defeats Dychko
Jermaine Franklin (24-2, 15 KOs) could well be in line to face Moses Itauma next and the American heavyweight ended the unbeaten record of former two-time Olympic bronze medallist, Ivan Dychko (15-1, 14 KOs), winning their 10-rounder clearly on points.
Scores of 97-92, 96-93 and 95-94 completed the upset win.
Bohachuk beaten by Adams
At super welterweight, Serhii Bohachuk (26-3, 24 KOs) was defeated again in a rematch against Brandon Adams, with the 36-year-old backing up his 2021 stoppage win with a wide points win this time around.
Adams (26-4, 16 KOs) took the contest by scores of 98-92×2 and 99-91.
Remaining Undercard
Steven Nelson (20-2, 16 KO) was looking to rebuild after a points loss to Diego Pacheco in January, but he was stunned by Raiko Santana (13-4, 7 KOs), who took an upset win inside a round at super middleweight, and at super featherweight, Mohammed Alakel (6-0, 1 KO) was a points winner in his first 10-rounder against Travis Crawford (7-5, 2 KOs).
In six-rounders, Reito Tsutsumi (3-0, 2 KOs) needed less than a round to deal with Javier Martinez (7-3, 4 KOs) in their super featherweight meeting and at middleweight, Marco Verde (3-0, 2 KOs) was a fourth round stoppage winner against Sona Akale (9-4, 4 KOs).
In the only four-rounder, Sultan Almohammed (1-0) took all four rounds against Martin Caraballo (0-1-1) at super featherweight.
