Terence Crawford never wanted to be the face of boxing. He said it in fight week.
But after dismantling Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez on Mexican Independence weekend, in front of 70,000 in Las Vegas and a likely record-breaking global audience on Netflix, he has no choice.
It wasn’t just a win. It was a career-defining, legacy-cementing, history-making performance.
Crawford became the first male fighter to be undisputed champion across three weight divisions in the four-belt era.
Before the fight Alvarez had dismissed Crawford’s resume, claiming he had “fought nobody”.
Within an hour of victory Crawford fired back on social media.
“For all the nobodies,” he said. Cue a figurative mic drop.
From his breakthrough world title against Britain’s Ricky Burns at lightweight in 2014 to cleaning out light-welterweight and welterweight, and now dethroning the sport’s biggest star at super-middleweight after moving up two divisions, Crawford’s CV gleams with rare accomplishment.
Boxing doesn’t always recognise greatness until it’s gone.
But right now we have two unbeaten fighters – Crawford and heavyweight Oleksandr Usyk – who are guaranteed hall of famers. Both are in their late-30s, proving that age is just a number.
There’s even that clip of them playing chess in 2018. A stalemate? Perhaps. Because how do you separate their achievements?
‘It’s not a surprise to me’ – Crawford’s defining night
The kid from Omaha who once needed counselling for his temper and who survived a shooting moved through the ring with a serene, almost unreadable focus.
All week Crawford exuded unrelenting confidence. There was no doubt in his mind.
He was relaxed and smiling throughout fight week, unfazed by the occasion. Even when he wound up the Mexican fans by making his entrance to a mariachi band, there was never a flicker of doubt he wouldn’t back it up.
That same calm assurance carried into the post-fight news conference, where he beamed with satisfaction.
“When I set my sights on doing something and I know what I’m capable of, it’s not like a surprise to me,” Crawford said.
“It’s a surprise to you all because you all didn’t believe me. I knew I could do it. I just needed an opportunity.”
Asked when he knew he had beaten Alvarez, Crawford coolly responded: “When he signed the contract.”
Inevitable comparisons will now be drawn with American great Floyd Mayweather, but Crawford batted them away.
“Floyd was the greatest of his era. I’m the greatest of this era. There’s no need to compare,” he said.
Alvarez – a legend under scrutiny
Alvarez arrived at the news conference marked up but unbowed. “I’m going to continue,” he said, swiftly putting to bed any suggestion he might call it a day.
As a teenager, the flame-haired fighter would ride Guadalajara’s city buses for hours, peddling ice creams just to help his family get by.
His first paydays in the ring were scarcely better – a few dollars here, a handful of ticket sales there.
In Vegas Alvarez was counting a reported purse of $150m (£111m). A man who once sold ice creams now earns fortunes big enough to buy factories.
Yet with superstardom comes scrutiny. Critics point to grey areas in his career: the debatable scorecards against Erislandy Lara and at least one of his trilogy bouts with Gennady Golovkin, fights that many felt should have gone the other way.
Others still refuse to move past his six-month ban in 2018 after failing two drugs tests, something Alvarez says was caused by contaminated meat.
Questions now linger over whether Alvarez is fading. His last outing against William Scull was a rather below-par performance, and his own words hint at the struggle.
“Sometimes you try and your body cannot go – that’s the frustration. I try it and my body does not let me go. You need to accept it,” he said.
Asked what troubled him most about Crawford, Alvarez said: “Everything. He has everything.”
A new era for boxing?
Netflix’s global reach – a subscriber base now over 300 million – means Alvarez-Crawford was a super-fight on a scale boxing rarely sees.
Dana White’s presence, promoting Zuffa Boxing, signals UFC-style ambitions for the sport – exclusive contracts, centralised control and potentially fewer revenue streams for fighters.
Perhaps resistance from the sport will be too much and White’s venture will be short-lived.
Or maybe the industry is shifting into a new era and it could accelerate super-fights and bring fresh audiences.
If so, it raises questions about who truly benefits in boxing’s new landscape.
But for now one truth is undeniable: Crawford sits firmly at the summit.
He turns 38 in less than two weeks, which means he won’t be around forever and nights like this will define how he’s remembered.
He stands as the sport’s golden boy.
Forty-two fights. Forty-two wins. Thirty-one knockouts. Five-division world champion. Three-weight undisputed.
The face of boxing.
