Terence Crawford’s career-defining win over Canelo Álvarez was a victory for substance over style
When the scores were read out and the task was accomplished, Terence Crawford dropped to one knee in the centre of the ring and wept.After more than a decade of waiting for the moment that would amplify his greatness beyond the paywalled enclave of modern boxing, the 37-year-old from Omaha had just outpointed the sport’s biggest star, Canelo Álvarez, before more than 70,000 fans in Las Vegas and millions more on Netflix.It was the career-defining victory he had never stopped believing would eventually come with hard work and dedication to his craft.Patience has always been Crawford’s greatest asset.Inside the ring, he is the consummate problem-solver: slow to reveal his hand, content to let an opponent show their patterns, then surgically dismantling them once he has cracked the code.
Outside it, he endured years of frustration, denied the paydays and opponents his gifts merited, waiting for the one night that he could not be ignored any more.On Saturday at Allegiant Stadium, both sides of that signature discipline were vindicated.For most of his career, Crawford operated on the margins of mainstream stardom, the quiet craftsman without the crossover appeal of louder, brasher champions.He unified at 140lb.He did it again at 147, thrashing Errol Spence Jr in 2023 before a pay‑per‑view audience of about 700,000, his most visible commercial success by far.
Yet doubts lingered.His résumé, critics said, lacked marquee names.The wins came too often against opponents dismissed as “nobodies”.His long affiliation with Top Rank allowed the most attractive opponents to sidestep him.Even Álvarez needled him in the buildup: “If you look at his career, mention one elite fighter.
”That barb was answered with prejudice on Saturday night,Crawford jumped not one but two divisions to face Álvarez, entrenched at super‑middleweight for nearly seven years, a four‑weight champion who had beaten future Hall of Famers and sold out stadiums on multiple continents,Crawford boxed with restraint early, southpaw jab probing, counters sharp,Then came the shift in the middle rounds,“Around like the sixth round, I felt like I needed to step it up a little more and get more control of the fight, because the fight was going like a seesaw effect,” he said.
From then on the pattern was clear: Crawford dictating terms, Álvarez chasing shadows.Crawford’s achievements had already marked him as a first-ballot hall‑of‑famer long before Saturday night.Nothing would have changed that, even if he’d been denied the decision (which, at least relative to my 118-110 score, came uncomfortably close to happening).The titles across four weight classes, including undisputed reigns in two of them, would have been enough to make him a household name decades ago, before boxing’s protracted retreat to the margins of American life.But he did beat Álvarez.
And now he’s become only the sixth fighter in history to win world titles in five divisions, joining Thomas Hearns, Sugar Ray Leonard, Oscar De La Hoya, Floyd Mayweather Jr and Manny Pacquiao.Only the third to claim lineal championships in four, alongside Mayweather and Pacquiao.Only the second man to become an undisputed champion in three weight classes since Henry Armstrong in 1938.So why did it take so long? Crawford’s laconic personality, his distaste for theatrics, has long kept him from the superstardom enjoyed by flashier peers.After a decade earning modest sums for his fights, Mayweather’s mid-career reinvention from the white-hat Pretty Boy Floyd into a pantomime villain made him the world’s richest athlete.
Crawford has never played that game.He has kept his head down, let the work speak.In today’s culture, which rewards volume as much as substance, that patience often looked like a liability.On Saturday night, it looked like the most important decision of his life.That is why the tears flowed when they did.
It was not just about beating Álvarez, though that alone was the kind of victory that vaulted him into all-time company.It was about vindication.That the quiet kid from a fistic backwater better known for producing corn than world-class fighters, who spent years fighting in relative obscurity, who unified divisions without the acclaim they deserved, was right to stay the course.To do it on his terms.That the old-fashioned idea – that if you keep winning, eventually the world will notice – still has some truth left in it.
Sign up to The RecapThe best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend’s actionafter newsletter promotionThis was a night when patience trumped power, subtlety overcame spectacle,It wasn’t the wild brawl some fans crave, nor the bombastic finish that fuels highlight reels,Instead, it was a masterclass in timing, angles and discipline,Crawford showed that greatness does not always arrive with a bang; sometimes it is built slowly, over years of waiting, refining, refusing to compromise,In a sport that rewards bluster, Crawford’s quiet vindication felt almost radical.
He was told for years that he hadn’t fought anybody.Now he has beaten everybody.He was told his chance might never come.Now he has seized the biggest one of all.When he sank to his knee, the tears said as much as any words.
The boy from Omaha who once survived a bullet to the head had climbed every mountain, solved every problem and waited long enough for the world to finally see it,
The greatest game of all? Broncos v Raiders NRL classic might just be the best of all time
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The final stage of the Vuelta a España was abandoned in chaotic and violent scenes, after groups of pro-Palestine protesters swamped the finish line area and presentation podium in central Madrid on Sunday.As huge crowds engulfed the finish area, the race leader Jonas Vingegaard, his Visma Lease-a-bike team and the rest of the peloton were forced to turn back from the city centre, with more than 55km still to race on stage 21. In an official statement, the Vuelta organisers said: “For security reasons, stage 21 of La Vuelta has been ended early. There will be no podium ceremony.”Spanish media reported that about 3,000 protesters were at the finish line and it was also claimed that there had been violent exchanges between police and protesters
Terence Crawford’s career-defining win over Canelo Álvarez was a victory for substance over style
When the scores were read out and the task was accomplished, Terence Crawford dropped to one knee in the centre of the ring and wept. After more than a decade of waiting for the moment that would amplify his greatness beyond the paywalled enclave of modern boxing, the 37-year-old from Omaha had just outpointed the sport’s biggest star, Canelo Álvarez, before more than 70,000 fans in Las Vegas and millions more on Netflix. It was the career-defining victory he had never stopped believing would eventually come with hard work and dedication to his craft.Patience has always been Crawford’s greatest asset. Inside the ring, he is the consummate problem-solver: slow to reveal his hand, content to let an opponent show their patterns, then surgically dismantling them once he has cracked the code
Ellie Kildunne hands England boost with return for Rugby World Cup semi-final
England’s world player of the year, Ellie Kildunne, is expected to be ready to play against France in the Women’s Rugby World Cup semi‑final against France on Saturday after missing the 40-8 quarter-final win against Scotland on Sunday.The full-back did not play against Scotland because of concussion protocols, but afterwards the Red Roses head coach, John Mitchell, said: “We have a clean bill of health I think. Ellie is back running, back into collision work and she is going good.”Kildunne sustained a head injury in England’s final pool match against Australia and was taken off with concussion symptoms. That meant she has had to go through a mandatory 12-day stand-down period
England still favourites to lift Rugby World Cup, but betting on them is another matter | Robert Kitson
Roses are red, Scotland in blue, the stakes are rising, how will they do? The scoreboard answer from a soaking wet Bristol was predictable enough. When bookmakers start quoting prices of 1000-1 on for a team to win a two‑horse race, the chances of England failing to reach the semi‑finals were roughly on a par with anyone in the stands getting sunstroke.With it came yet another record statistic for John Mitchell’s bunch of serial winners. No leading international rugby side in history has previously won 31 Tests in a row as England’s women have now done: 61 victories in their past 62 Tests leaves precious little room for people to question their pedigree or killer instinct.Yet would you absolutely put your mortgage on England hoisting the World Cup in just under a fortnight? This may, of course, depend on the precise sum of money involved and the potential availability of other emergency income streams
England 40-8 Scotland: Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 quarter-final – as it happened
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