Terence Crawford tops Canelo Alvarez for historic undisputed crown

LAS VEGAS — Terence Crawford proved that size didn’t matter, putting together a master class to defeat Canelo Alvarez by unanimous decision and become the new undisputed super middleweight champion Saturday night at Allegiant Stadium.

Although the scores were 116-112, 115-113 and 115-113, it felt as if Crawford won by a wider margin as he stymied Alvarez and left the Mexican star shaking his head in frustration when he couldn’t impose his will on his smaller opponent.

With the win, Crawford (42-0, 31 KOs) becomes the first male boxer in the four-belt era to be undisputed in three weight classes. And he did it with style in front of an announced crowd of 70,482 in the stadium — most of whom were Alvarez fans — and millions more who streamed the fight live on Netflix.

After capturing world titles in four weight classes — including achieving undisputed status at junior welterweight and welterweight — Crawford made the audacious jump from 154 pounds to 168 pounds to dethrone boxing’s biggest star.

Fighting out of Omaha, Nebraska, Crawford utilized movement early to keep Alvarez off-balance. Crawford kept an active jab and picked his spots with hard combinations throughout the bout. Crawford was dialed in from the start as Alvarez sought to corner his opponent. But Crawford’s movement prevented Alvarez from rumbling inside and landing his thudding power shots. Instead, Alvarez was on the receiving end of Crawford’s combinations.

Crawford outlanded Alvarez 115-99 in total punches and 45-16 in jabs. Alvarez had an 83-70 edge in power punches.

Alvarez (63-3-2, 39 KOs) entered the fight 10-0 at super middleweight and a winner of six consecutive fights, with his only loss coming against Dmitry Bivol when Alvarez attempted to capture a world title at light heavyweight. But against a fighter coming up in weight, Alvarez struggled to mount significant offense and was muscled around by Crawford late in the fight.

Crawford closed the fight convincingly late in the bout by shredding Alvarez with combinations and rocking his opponent at the final bell.