Terence Crawford’s assistant coach Bernie Davis says Crawford overcame “refined version” Canelo Alvarez ‘worse’ than Floyd Mayweather Jr. many years ago.

The 35-year-old Canelo did not look very “elegant” in the eyes of this expert. He looked vintage, weather-beaten and tired. This wasn’t Canelo, who stopped Gennady Golovkin in his first two fights in 2017 and 2018.

The way Mayweather defeated Canelo was much different than the way Crawford did it. Floyd stood in the pocket, outboxed and beat Canelo.

In contrast, Crawford rode a bicycle, constantly moving and rarely standing still. There is no comparison between them. Mayweather looked masterful in the video below of his victory over Canelo on September 14, 2013.

Davis says Crawford (42-0, 31 KO) took on then-undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo (63-3-2, 39 KO) and “stunned him, staggered him” in the Sept. 13, 2025 fight.

Crawford won a nearly 12-round unanimous decision by scores of 115-113, 115-113 and 116-112. It was a close call as Canelo landed most of his strenuous punches in rounds 1-8.

Crawford came to life in round 9 with a brief volley of punches. In rounds 10, 11 and 12, Terence’s attack was sporadic, just like before.

Canelo vs. Crawford punch stats

• Canelo Alvarez – 99 of 338 for 29.3%
• Terence Crawford – 115 out of 534 for 21.5%

Of the 115 punches Crawford landed, 45 were jabs and 70 were strenuous punches. Once the pushes were removed, Terence didn’t take many significant shots.

Mayweather’s reference point

On September 14, 2013, Floyd Mayweather defeated the younger, faster and better version of Canelo by 12-round majority decision. Canelo was 22 years vintage at the time, at the top of his game and looked undefeated. Mayweather did a great job disarming Canelo’s attack and working him through. The scores were 117-111, 116-112 and 114-114.

Mayweather and Canelo punching stats

• Floyd Mayweather Jr. – 232 out of 505 hits for a 46% connection speed
• Canelo Alvarez – 117 of 526 for 22%

“We beat this man. We beat him worse than Mayweather and we’re talking about a refined version,” said trainer Bernie Davis. MillCity Boxingclaiming that Terence Crawford did a better job beating 35-year-old Canelo Alvarez than Floyd Mayweather Jr. did when he beat him when the Mexican star was 23 years vintage.

It wasn’t Crawford beating up on Canelo. He spent too much time moving around trying not to get hit by Canelo because it was considered a self-inflicted beating.

“Canelo didn’t take any beatings. He’s the only undisputed three-division champion we’ve had in the four-belt era,” Bernie said of Crawford. “The guys he beat were undefeated. He pushed him. He stunned him, he staggered him,” Bernie said, going a little overboard in praising Crawford.