Canelo woke up after Crawford loss to experience something he hasn’t in seven years

Canelo Alvarez’s seven-year streak as a reigning world champion is over.

Terence Crawford ensured this by claiming an astonishing win over the now former undisputed super-middleweight king.

The 70,482 fans packed into the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, as well as those who tuned in to watch worldwide on Netflix, witnessed two pound-for-pound greats in a historic showdown.

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After overcoming the odds, that were undeniably stacked against him having climbed two-weight classes, Crawford extended his professional record to 42-0.

It showed how dominant a boxer Canelo had been given the shock loss marked the first time in seven years that he was not in possession of at least one belt.

Although his incredible streak as a title holder may now be over, he is undeniably one of the 21st Century’s pound-for-pound greats.

What was Canelo Alvarez’s seven-year reign as world champion?

The Mexican began his impressive streak in 2018, when he achieved a narrow majority decision win during his rematch with Gennady Golovkin.

Canelo handed the longtime champion his first loss as he claimed the WBC and WBA middleweight titles.

A year later, Canelo defeated Daniel Jacobs to claim his opponent’s IBF middleweight title and become the unified WBA, WBC and IBF champion of the division.

Continuing his impressive streak in a second outing in 2019, the Mexican challenger stepped up to add the WBO light-heavyweight world title to his collection when he knocked out Sergey Kovalev.

Then, in his lone appearance of 2020, he went head-to-head with Britain’s Callum Smith.

Canelo dominated their bout in order to claim the WBA, WBC and Ring Magazine super-middleweight titles.

As he faced mandatory WBC world super-middleweight challengerAvni Yildirim in 2021, he not only defended his title but also knocked his opponent down in the third round.

After another KO win, Canelo was matched up to face-off with Billy Joe Saunders.

Following an eight-round stoppage due to Saunders sustaining a gruesome eye injury, their clash ended with Canelo winning the unified WBA, WBC and WBO super-middleweight belt.

From there, Caleb Plant had the only title of the super-middleweight division that Canelo had not yet claimed.

He ensured that no stone was left unturned when he got the opportunity to face the IBF title holder, Plant, in 2021, as Canelo delivered an 11th-round knockout to become the undisputed champion of the weight class.

Off the back of his continued success cleaning up in his fourth division he only lost once during his illustrious stint, when he clashed with Dmitry Bivol in Las Vegas in 2022.

Canelo’s staggering seven-year streak of title possession continued until September 2025 when he lost in Sin City.

The massive Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford event is now in the past, with ‘Bud’ leaving Allegiant Stadium as the undisputed super middleweight champion.

As lucrative as the night was for Crawford, the outcome was equally as opportunistic for another fighter who did not compete on the card.

For years, David Benavidez has campaigned to fight Canelo Alvarez. And for years, his callouts were ignored. Fans wanted the fight, but Alvarez seemed to have no interest.

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Now, in 2025, the fight might be fully on the table, with Alvarez lacking a definitive direction for his next career move.

Alvarez lost his belts on Saturday, but he is still widely considered to be one of the best fighters in the world. Most importantly, he is still a top-five pound-for-pound pay-per-view draw. As the face of Mexican boxing, there is almost no fight his fans would not show out for.

Nobody was a bigger winner on Saturday than Crawford, who made history and defied the odds in a truly dominant performance. But from a business perspective, the result might not have been better for anyone other than Benavidez.

David Benavidez is a big winner from Canelo-Crawford fallout

Many fans did not like how his title reign went, but there is no doubting Alvarez’s championship aura. Alvarez has been a titleholder for the last decade, and few fighters feel less equipped to hold a belt than he does.

By losing to Crawford, Alvarez does not have a belt for the first time since 2015. Depending on what happens next, it has been almost as long since he fought in a non-title bout.

At this point, being a champion has become ingrained in his personality. It did not define who he was, but Alvarez without a belt nearly seems like a tiger without its stripes. Whoever Alvarez fights next, it will be a pay-per-view headlining bout, and most likely with another title on the line.

Perhaps Alvarez rematches Crawford, but how lucrative would a rematch be at this point? The first fight was not competitive, and fans were not that enthused with the matchup to begin with. People might watch a rematch out of obligation, but the prestige of the fight has already been used up.

In that sense, if Alvarez is going to fight for a belt in his next outing, it will need to be in another division. He is much more willing to move up than down, having already fought at light heavyweight twice before, including winning the WBO 175-pound belt in 2019.

If he moves up, Benavidez is the obvious answer. Dmitry Bivol is there, but he is already tied up with Artur Beterbiev, making a rematch unlikely. Benavidez and Alvarez have been linked for years, and the fight is one fans believe should have already been made.

Benavidez has a devout fan base, but he is far from a bona fide pay-per-view star. Wins over Caleb Plant, Demetrius Andrade and David Morrell boosted his stock, but he is still waiting for that one big superfight to put him over the edge. Win or lose, Alvarez would be that fight.

Alvarez was asked about retirement in the ring and completely shrugged off the notion. If he returns to another title fight, it has to be Benavidez. ‘The Mexican Monster’ has a massive challenge in front of him with Anthony Yarde, but a potentially lucrative opportunity awaits him should he improve to 31-0.

Perhaps Alvarez returns to the William Scull and Edgar Berlanga route, but that does next to nothing for him at this point in his career. Now under Turki Alalshikh, Alvarez seems inclined to go wherever the money takes him, and for now, that road leads to David Benavidez.

Canelo Alvarez was largely outmatched by Terence Crawford on Saturday night.

In Las Vegas, Alvarez was beaten by Crawford over 12 rounds in the third loss of his career.

It was a remarkable performance from ‘Bud’ to win the undisputed super middleweight titles after moving up two weight classes.

Fortunately for the fans and for the challenger, aside from the AI judge, the scorecards also appeared to be somewhat in line with the consensus opinion.

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While it was clear that the American was winning the majority of the rounds, even if the fight was competitive, the stats provide a greater insight into this.

Canelo Alvarez was more accurate than Terence Crawford despite convincingly losing

With everything that both men have accomplished in their careers, there are countless interesting stats about the records of Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford.

Ultimately, only three figures truly mattered on Saturday night, the scorecards, which were all in favor of the challenger.

While Roy Jones Jr. believes that Crawford’s first win came before a punch was thrown, the stats from the fight paint a pretty accurate image of what fans saw on September 13.

Alvarez certainly landed some shots of his own but his opponent wasn’t affected by them and at points, chose to trade with the Mexican superstar.

The data from Compubox shows just how Crawford was able to consistently stay ahead of his opponent in each round with far more activity.

However, a surprise figure shows that it was actually Alvarez who was slightly more accurate with his punches despite the elusive nature of his foe.

Two other stats also highlight key aspects of Canelo Alvarez vs Terence Crawford

In Compubox’s statistics for the fight, there are two other interesting comparisons that are drawn following Canelo Alvarez vs Terence Crawford.

The first notes that Alvarez landed 32% of his power punches in the fight, compared to an average of 46% in his previous 12 fights.

Given that Crawford was moving up two weight classes many expected him to have a speed advantage in this fight, and while that was true, ‘Bud’ has always had incredible footwork that keeps him out of danger.

While Alvarez may have had an issue with landing something significant on his opponent, he still landed the second most shots of any of Crawford’s former opponents at 99, only being outdone by Egidijus Kavaliauskas at 118.

Some may argue that this was due to ‘Bud’ wanting to prove a point during the fight where he stood his ground for some of the bout’s most exciting highlights.

Why Terence Crawford Give All the Belts Back to Canelo Alvarez Despite Winning

In front of a 70,482-packed Allegiant Stadium on Saturday, Terence Crawford proved that he wasn’t in his first 168-pound category fight by coincidence. Although the entire fight was razor-thin close, it missed a lot of action in the first eight rounds. Crawford, however, got the better of his opponent, the former super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez, in the final rounds. To close out, the American landed a series of uppercuts, three-punch combos, and right and left punches as Alvarez tried to get a hold of himself but couldn’t.

Despite a medical emergency when the Mexican head-butted him, Crawford became the only male boxer to capture three unified division titles with a unanimous decision. He clearly proved his doubters wrong yet again. But later, Crawford crashed Alvarez’s post-game press conference, and to many fans’ surprise, he returned the belts he had won just a few minutes before to Alvarez. However, it is not something surprising or new. In fact, it is a customary tradition in boxing, but for clarity, Crawford cleared it out during an interview.

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Terence Crawford reveals why he gave up the belts to Canelo Alvarez

When a new champion is named, the ex-champion is allowed to hold the title for a while. Terence Crawford, too, showed his respect to his rival and handed him the belts. Moreover, he’s going to get new ones soon. Other than that, the gesture of handing the titles back also signifies another thing. After the fight, Crawford said, “I’ve got nothing for respect for Canelo, I’m a big fan of Canelo, and he fought like a champion today.” And giving the belts back signified those words along with sportsmanship.

It’s a symbolic act to honor the former champion, who reigned supreme as the top boxer for a fairly long time. But other than that, Terence Crawford claims that he’s going to get his own version of the undisputed super middleweight titles, and that’s why he returned the ones that belong to ‘Sual’. “They [are] his belts,” ‘Bud’ told Stephen A. Smith. “I wanted to be the one to give them back to him… They [are] my belts, but my belt is going to come personalized. Like his belt is personalized… I took his titles. The belt is going home with him.”

Meanwhile, Canelo Alvarez didn’t mince words when it came to praising Terence Crawford, either. After the fight, the 35-year-old favorite for the fight said, “We knew Crawford is a great fighter. I did what I was supposed to do. I trained really hard. He deserved all the credit. I tried my best tonight, and I couldn’t figure out the style. He had everything.” On Saturday night, Crawford looked strong from the get-go. By the end, judges Tim Cheatham and Max DeLuca awarded Crawford 115-113 and Steve Weisfeld 116-112 for the UD win.

Fans not only got to see these two titans of boxing fight in a generational clash, but also saw them embracing each other after the fight, showcasing that the bad blood is only inside the ring and not outside of it. But if anyone thought that preparing for the fight came easily for the Omaha native, it wasn’t so.

Crawford’s coach advised him to go southpaw

Terence Crawford is known for his exceptional switch-hitting ability, which allows him to make effective use of both the southpaw and the orthodox stances. However, he had decided to only go orthodox against Alvarez. His coach, however, had something else in mind.

“I’ve always sparred bigger guys, I’d bully the smaller guys. I used to work on my defence. Fighting at a bigger weight, not having to lose so much, it helped me. I wanted to come out orthodox, but my coaches said southpaw will kill him. That’s what we did tonight,” Terence Crawford told the media. “We knew what he was trying to do: the wide hooks. He knew I was faster, but he then respected my power.”

Although an underdog going into the fight, and certainly not the reason for a historical crowd in Allegiant Stadium, Crawford kept his confidence and let his work speak. Now with a win over Canelo Alvarez on his resume, Terence Crawford might have a few interesting fights out there. But then again, there is also speculation about his retirement. We’ll have to wait and see how things pan out in the future.

Terence Crawford made a strong case for being the greatest fighter of his generation with a historic victory over Canelo Alvarez last weekend.

The 37-year-old Omaha-native defeated the Mexican icon via unanimous decision to capture the undisputed super-middleweight championship at a packed out Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada.

In what has been regarded as the best performance of his professional career to date, ‘Bud’ Crawford wrote his name into the boxing history books once again by becoming the first male fighter in the modern era to win an undisputed championship in three weight classes.

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The three judges at ringside scored the bout 115-113, 115-113 and 116-112 all in favour of the American pound-for-pound great, and it has been suggested by some that the cards should have been a lot wider.

With rumours already circulating about what could be next for ‘Bud’ after this monumental victory, the 37-year-old has ruled out one fight in particular.

Speaking in the post-fight press conference, Crawford was asked if there was any chance of him dropping back down to 154lbs and potentially going on to face fellow countryman Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis.

“No. I ain’t going down to 154.”

‘Bud’ did make a brief appearance at super-welterweight in August 2024 when he defeated Uzbek star Israil Madrimov via unanimous decision to capture the WBA world title. He had previously floated the idea of moving back down to become undisputed, however has clearly felt too good at the weight to drop significantly.

‘Boots’ Ennis recently announced he will begin his campaign at 154lbs later this year having previously reigned as the unified WBA and IBF welterweight champion. The 27-year-old from Philadelphia is set to face Portugal’s Uisma Lima in a non-title bout on October 11.

Though an intriguing match-up, it looks unlikely that Crawford and ‘Boots’ will ever meet inside the ropes, unless the latter decides to quickly move up another division.

As for Crawford, he hinted that he may be tempted to make a move to middleweight next, and one of the world champions at 160lbs has already responded.

Why Terence Crawford’s Win Over Canelo Alvarez Changes the Boxing GOAT Conversation

Something fascinating happened in the 11th round of Canelo Alvarez’s undisputed title defence against Terence Crawford.

After so many questions about whether the Mexican idol could slowly break his American challenger, the opposite happened. Crawford broke Canelo.

Crawford, who had already proven himself too slick, too smart, and too elusive for Canelo over the course of the preceding rounds, began unloading extended clips of leather ammo on the champion, who had no substantial retort but to shake his head.

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Yet this wasn’t the trademark shake of the head that fans have become accustomed to seeing from the 35-year-old – the dismissive shake that tells opponents they haven’t dented or even scratched his armour. Canelo was not shaking his head at Crawford; he was shaking his head to himself, in disgust.

Over, and over, and over, the 37-year-old Crawford was landing southpaw lefts: straights, uppercuts, hooks. Unable to slip or roll these punches as he usually would, Canelo settled for sighs. The realisation had set in: It was too late. Those sporadic body shots and hooks to the arms had not paid off. Crawford’s early bursts of offence in the rounds – and sensible evasion late – had paid off. For Canelo, the fight had gone. His titles had gone.

More pointedly, perhaps, he had suffered the humiliation of seeing Crawford ambitiously venture into his territory – both the 168lb division and Las Vegas on Mexican Independence Weekend – and triumph. The result was not yet official, of course, and there was always the prospect of a fortunate scorecard, but surely the boxing world would understand, regardless, that Crawford had won this fight.

It was expected that the stylistic strand to this match-up would be yanked back and forth, in the ultimate tug of war: Canelo’s plodding but powerful and spiteful pressure, against Crawford’s fleet footwork, impeccable timing, and shrewd shot selection. And that was indeed the case, with the latter skillset and approach winning out.

All that was left was for Michael Buffer to confirm it, and as he did, even the thousands of Mexicans in Allegiant Stadium had to accept the reality and offer praise to Crawford.

It is also worth saying that, in the build-up, the phrase “a fight we never thought we’d see” was forcefully twisted like a wrung towel. No, we did not think we’d see it, but not because it was an enthralling-but-elusive match-up; rather, it had barely crossed fans’ minds due to the massive weight disparity between the protagonists. In this sense, Canelo vs Crawford was perhaps the first real example of Saudi matchmaker Turki Alalshikh prioritising his wishes over those of fans – and over what made sense.

It was a colossal clash, yes, but also a contrived one. However, that would be forgotten if it delivered in the ring or if Crawford’s gamble paid off in a city made for gambling. The fight came to life late on, it gave way to Crawford’s ultimate victory, and so any faults with the matchmaking will not be remembered.

This was history. That term is often thrown around like a haphazard overhand, but here, it fits like the gloves that dealt Canelo defeat. Crawford is now the first three-weight undisputed champion of the modern era. Furthermore, he is a five-weight champion, going one better than Canelo, whose second undisputed reign at 168lb ended here. But most impressively, Crawford achieved this feat by going two weight classes above his previous maximum, risking resembling a pugilistic Icarus gliding too close to the scorching Nevada sun.

Still, Canelo took a risk, too, putting his pride and legacy on the line against a smaller man. That should not be forgotten, and as easy as it is to talk up Crawford’s performance and achievement, Canelo fought well in stints and played his part on this era-defining night. If only he took more risks in the fight itself, as Crawford did.

But in truth, Canelo’s legacy is already secure. Many times he has taken risks, and he has come back from defeats before. His activity is one of his greatest assets, and he is due back in the ring twice in 2026. The numbers are fuzzy, but if he did not earn $100m tonight, he will have done by the end of his deal with the Saudis.

Whether Crawford will ever step foot in a ring again remains to be seen. On this night, in showing that he is simply on another level to Canelo, he also took his legacy to another level.

Five-weight champion. Three-weight undisputed king. Unbeaten. Terence “Bud” Crawford took everything from Canelo, and there may be nothing left for him in this sport.