If Canelo turns in a poor showing in his next fight, the fallout will not stop with him. It will land on Crawford as well, because many fans already felt the fight last September raised questions about what level Canelo was operating on by that stage of his career.
Crawford won by two narrow scores of 115 113 and a wider 116 112 that did not reflect how the fight felt in the moment. There were stretches in the middle rounds where Canelo struggled to reset his feet, gave ground without returning fire, and looked a step behind exchanges that once would have been routine for him.
The fight was competitive and tense, but it did not feel like a meeting between the best super middleweight in the division and a challenger rising to meet him.
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Among hardcore fans, the reaction after the final bell was fairly consistent. They pointed to how slow and stiff Canelo looked and how much of the fight resembled a veteran managing decline rather than imposing control. By the later rounds, there was a sense that neither Crawford nor Canelo would beat the younger pressure fighters waiting at 168.
Names kept coming up in that discussion, including Osleys Iglesias, Christian Mbilli, and Lester Martinez, fighters known for size, pace, and sustained pressure who Canelo has not faced during his time at super middleweight. That is where the criticism starts to stick.
Max Kellerman addressed the issue on InsideRingShow, saying that if Canelo looks bad in his next fight, people will say Crawford beat a post prime version, and that outcome would hurt Crawford because the two performances are linked, whether he wants them to be or not.
Fans did not need a future fight to arrive at that view. Many were already saying it after the final bell, reading the performance as one that suggested a champion closer to the end than the peak.
You can argue that Canelo would have lost his super middleweight titles years earlier if he had faced the real threats in the division, including David Benavidez, David Morrell, Iglesias, Mbilli, or Martinez, but those fights never happened and the belts stayed with him as time passed.
Crawford stepped in at the right moment to face a champion who remained skilled but was no longer operating at his sharpest level. He won, then walked away before the division could respond.
That decision protects the record and keeps the debate unresolved.
Crawford’s biggest win came against a name rather than a full division. If that name continues to fade, the win will be viewed through that lens.
