Crawford dethrones Alvarez to become super middleweight boxing king

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

There will be no strap season happening in the sport of boxing.

It’s snatch season.

What was predicted to be a 50/50 close match in the most anticipated super middleweight undisputed bout went down to a one-sided masterclass as Terence “Bud” Crawford pulled off a unanimous decision victory to defeat Canelo “Saul” Alvarez on Sept. 14, 2025, at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada.

With the massive win, the pride of Omaha, Nebraska, became the new World Boxing Council (WBC), World Boxing Organization (WBO), International Boxing Federation (IBF), and World Boxing Association (WBA) super middleweight champion of the world.

Crawford not only left Las Vegas speechless, but he also left a mark on the sport of boxing.

The sweet upset win propelled Crawford to a new level of greatness after becoming the first boxer in the four-belt era to become an undisputed champion in three different weight classes despite going up two divisions higher to challenge the mighty Mexican.

No matter what the consequences were, champions were built to overcome disaster.

Uncharted territory, a 13-month ring inactivity, weight class adjustment, name it. Crawford had them all.

In the words of his camp: “Stop all of these man, Bud came to box and handle business”.

Which he did.

Many didn’t expect the outcome of this match to become a dominant beatdown, but one thing stood out in front of the thousands in attendance in Las Vegas.

Crawford is a different beast.

Despite gaining weight to make the fight happen, Crawford maintained his precision and speed, which the Alvarez camp didn’t see coming.

From the get-go, Crawford started to dissect Alvarez with multiple hitting angles of his jab and wasn’t afraid of standing in the middle of the ring to eat the Mexican’s power.

Weeks before the fight, analysts feared that Crawford might not be able to handle the punching power in the super middleweight division.

In just the blink of an eye, Crawford silenced every doubter as he absorbed every power punch that Alvarez unleashed, while at the same time maintaining accuracy in his counterpunching prowess.

Alvarez started to find his rhythm at the start of the fourth round after tagging Crawford with solid right hook punches that landed straight to his jaw.

However, Crawford always had answers and responded quickly in the next round, sending in a flurry of combinations that piled up his tally in the scorecards.

From rounds 7-12, Alvarez only scored a single frame and could only witness Crawford’s technical hitting clinic until the final bell rang.

Pure domination. That was textbook boxing from Crawford, ladies and gentlemen.

In the most crucial 12^th round, where Alvarez needed a knockout to keep his belts, Crawford came prepared and set up his final tango inside the boxing ring.

After the high-level chess match, all ringside judges scored the bout in favor of Crawford, 115-113, 115-113, and 116-112.

And new! Super middleweight champion of the world! Terence “Bud” Crawford!