Terence Crawford stuns Canelo Álvarez in unanimous decision
What was once considered an unlikely match-up a few years ago produced a surprising outcome for fans rooting for a Mexican superstar during Mexican independence weekend in Las Vegas.
Terence “Bud” Crawford from Omaha, Nebraska, defeated Mexican boxing star Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez by unanimous decision in front of a crowd of 70,482 at Allegiant Stadium on Saturday night. Canelo put his WBC, WBA, WBO, and IBF world titles on the line in the super middleweight division (168 pounds).
Crawford won the fight with scores of 116-112, 115-113, and 115-113. This marked Canelo's 21st fight in Las Vegas as he celebrated 20 years in the sport, while Crawford risked his perfect record in pursuit of greatness.
In a fight that did not meet expectations, Ireland’s Callum Walsh from Cork defeated Fernando Vargas Jr. from Las Vegas by unanimous decision in the super welterweight co-main event. Walsh won with scores of 99-91, 99-91, and 100-90.
WBC interim super middleweight champion Christian Mbilli from Quebec, Canada, and born in Cameroon, drew with WBA No. 3 and WBC No. 7 Lester Martínez from San Benito Petén, Guatemala, after 10 rounds in a super middleweight battle. The judges declared a draw with cards of 97-93 for Martínez, 96-94 for Mbilli, and a third judge scoring it 95-95.
In the lightweight bout that opened the main card, Mohammed Alakel from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, defeated Travis Crawford from San Diego by unanimous decision with scores of 99-91, 99-91, and 98-92 in favor of Alakel.
In other fights, Brandon Adams from Watts won his second victory over Serhii Bohachuck, Jermaine Franklin defeated Ivan Dychko from Kazakhstan, Reito Tsutsumi defeated Javier Martínez of Dallas, Texas, and Sultan Almohamed won his debut fight against Martín Caraballo from Hollywood, Florida.
Cuban Raiko Santana stopped Steve Nelson in the first round, Marco Verde defeated Sona Akale via technical knockout in the fourth round, and Akale was visibly upset with the referee's decision to stop the fight.