By Tom Donelson / Member Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA)
This bout between Canelo Alveraz and Terrance Crawford, two of the better pound for pound fighters over the past generation and while many favored the boxing technician Crawford, Alvarez was the natural bigger fighter. Alveraz was the bigger fighter and younger fighter, and he has been fighting professionally since he was a teenager. As one person noted, he had more knockouts than Crawford had wins.
Crawford won 19 championship bouts whereas Alveraz won 23 so they were two of the more dominant fighters. I remember when Mayweather out boxed Alvarez despite being the smaller fighter but that was a younger Alvarez, and the present Alvarez was the natural bigger fighter and more experienced since the Mayweather fight, while Crawford won the intern WBO intern championship against Israil Madrimov but hardly impressive event in his first attempt in the junior Middleweight.
The first round saw Crawford moving and boxing, landing clean combinations as Alvarez tries to slow Crawford with body shots including a left. Second round saw Crawford giving Alvarez different look as he eats Crawford jabs to get body shots. Crawford jab may have won the second round, and I had it 20-18. Round three saw Crawford landing with jabs and even a body shots plus a left hook flush on Alvarez face while Alvarez landing left hook to the body. After three rounds, it is close, but I will give Crawford the edge in all three rounds. From this point, it is a question if Alvarez will eventually impose his will on the smaller Crawford. So, in the early going, it was not the case.
Crawford moved Alvarez back with a left as he picks up the pace in the fourth round. Alvarez lands a right to the body and head but so far at this point Crawford appeared to have the advantage and 40-36 after four rounds. Round five saw Alvarez move his upper body and defend him out of harm’s way of Crawford harder shots but while Crawford nailed Alvarez with a right, Alvarez may have won the hand with a hook to the body. It was 49-46. Sixth round saw both men exchanging punches and in the early part of the round, Crawford was beathing Alvarez to the punch. Alvarez landed a big shot to the body, but Crawford landed his own left hand and even ripped a shot or two to the body. Halfway through the fight I had it 59-55 but never underestimate Alvarez ability to gain close rounds on the judges score card.
Round seven still sees Crawford frustrating Alvarez as Crawford is countering Alvarez inside punching. Alvarez cornered Crawford but Crawford landed uppercut and circles away. In some ways it reminded me of how Mayweather also frustrated Alvarez. 69-64. Eighth round is close as Alvarez works his way on the inside, but Crawford is returning fire and while this was a close round judges may have given this to Alverez, but I gave it to Crawford 79-73. Ninth round may have been Crawford best at this point as he peeled off combinations that snaped Alvarez head back and during an attempt by Alvarez to counter his head collided with Crawford, opening a small gash over Crawford head. Alvarez hands a hard combination ending with a solid right but Crawford nails Alvarez with a short left and his movement stalled Alvaraz with three rounds left I had it 89-82 and it would appear that Alvarez needed a knockout on my card.
Crawford movement appears to be bewildered Alvarez, and his combinations is slowing the bigger man advances. Crawford won the round 99-91. The eleventh round another round that I had Crawford winning with combinations as Alvarez was taking two punches to land his one and at this point, Crawford was winning but there are few close rounds, and this is Vegas in which the judges may give Alvarez the benefit. Finat round saw Crawford landing combinations as Alvarez tried for one big punch to end the fight in his favor. As he lunged, Crawford nailed Alvarez with a right hand and land combinations. As the bell rang to end the fight, Crawford staggered Alvarez. I had the fight 119-109 in Crawford favor while the judges had the fight closer 115-113, 115-113, and 116-112, this was a virtuosa performance by Crawford.
At the age of 37, he moved up to Alvarez’s weigh and won against the bigger man. Most of the unofficial scorecards had Crawford winning big. ESPN had 118-110, 10 rounds to 2 and I had it 11 rounds to one. When you look at Compubox, it was a close fight with Crawford landing 115-99 but round by round, Alvarez had more punches landed in 6 rounds to Crawford 5 with one even, but Crawford landed more jabs and threw more punches while he was close in landing power shots 70 to Alvarez 83. Alvarez never had Crawford in trouble but there was couple of times that Alvarez was staggered. While I gave many close rounds to Crawford, part of it was Crawford constant movement and being more active but there were rounds close enough to reward them to Alvarez. Alvarez was given a few more close rounds that I rewarded Alvarez with, and I have no problem with that. Boxing can be a subjective sport to score but the judges did have the winner right.
Crawford may be one of the best fighters of his generation as he moved up from lightweight to super Middleweight. As for Alvarez, he is still one of the best fighters in this generation but in the first big fight with Mayweather, he lost to the clever boxer early in his career and now at the age of 35, he lost to another master boxer. In both cases, he was the bigger fighter but failed to dominate his smaller fighter.
Crawford surprised me as he was moving up two weight; by passing Middleweight but now he is part of history and boxing lore, the swift fast fighter at the age of 37 who defeated the best Super Middleweight in the world.
Meanwhile in Japan, Naoya Inoue retained his undisputed junior-featherweight crown after an easy victory over former unified titlist Murodjon Akhmadaliev. The scores was 117-111, 118-110 and 118-110 as Inoue reminded boxing fans that he still should be considered as the best pound for pound.
While much of the boxing world were focused on the fight in Vegas, and present for the fight was the undefeated Junto Nakatani who is interested in testing Inoue.
Inoue worked the jab and set the pace against Akhmadeliev, who predicted a knockout. Inoue slipped many of his opponents punches and ended the first with a left hook and the second and third round, Inoue simply jab Akhmadaliev and forcing Akhmadaliev to play defense.
Inoue immediately worked his jab and established the pace against Uzbekistan’s Akhmadaliev, who started slowly before he let his hands go late in the round. Inoue slipped most of the incoming and ended the round with a left hook upstairs. The fourth round was a closer round as Uzbek’s jab closed the distance but often in the first few rounds, Inoue often initiated the exchanges and finished them.
Most of the Uzbek’s best moments, however, were buried by Inoue’s flair to both initiate and finish the majority of their exchanges. Akhmadaliev refused to concede, as he charged forward in search of a home for his straight lefts and right hooks. Inoue adjusted and connected with a right hand. Akhmadaliev managed to make a right hook just before the bell.
In the middle round, Inoue continued the domination he controlled the pace and had his way with his opponent. Inoue easily took the eighth round and in the ninth round, his combination kept his opponent off balance.
Going into the last three rounds, the real question would Inoue continued his 11 fight knock out streak. Inoue had not gone the distance since his November 2019 Donaire fight. Akhmadaliev’s corner told their fighter to let his hands go well but that was easier said than done. Akhamadaliev found that when he let his hands go, Inoue simply pounded him with counter. Inoue simply took the final three rounds for an easy decision, and I was hard press to find any round that he didn’t lose but there were a few close rounds to give to Akhmadaliev.
Inoue is now 31-0 with 28 KOs as he lodge his six defense of this 122 pounds title.
The sentiment was shared by his co-promoter Bob Arum, whose Top Rank company has served as Inoue’s US representative since 2019. Now the next bout will be against David Picasso in Saudi Arabia and Junto Nakatani will also be on the same card and if both fighters win, it will set a big fight in Spring of 2026. This will be Japanese biggest fight ever.
The stats showed domination as he landed more than double the punches and was the most effective, showing that he is one of the best pound for pound, but big fights remain on the horizon.
