Fighters’ grades: Did Crawford or Inoue have the better weekend?

Three of ESPN’s top 10 pound-for-pound fighters were in action this weekend, as No. 3 Terence Crawford clashed with No. 8 Canelo Alvarez at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas and No. 2 Naoya Inoue put his undisputed junior featherweight titles on the line against Murodjon Akhmadaliev in Nagoya, Japan.

Crawford defied the odds by moving up two weight divisions and brilliantly outboxed Canelo to become the undisputed champion at 168 pounds. Crawford added four more belts to his collection and became the first men’s boxer in the four-belt era to hold undisputed status in three weight classes (junior welterweight, welterweight and super middleweight).

Meanwhile, Inoue made another statement with a thorough schooling of Akhmadaliev to retain his undisputed championship. Akhmadaliev was expected to present a tough challenge for “The Monster” but was soundly routed by an opponent who was better in every aspect.

With such a loaded weekend of fights, let’s look at the noteworthy matchups and grade the individual performances of both the winners and losers.

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Saturday report card

Terence Crawford: A+

This performance may have been even more impressive than his stoppage of Errol Spence Jr. in July 2023. No, it wasn’t as violent , but it was more complete. Crawford had to overcome what was perceived to be a significant size disadvantage and utilized just about every tool in his repertoire. He displayed exceptional footwork, kept Canelo off-balance with a plucky jab, outhustled Canelo in the pocket, showcased a strong chin and completely took the champion out of his game. Try as he might, Canelo couldn’t get settled into a groove and began to show signs of frustration by the middle rounds. And Crawford did all of this while moving up two weight classes and just two weeks shy of his 38th birthday. It’s nearly impossible to pinpoint a weakness in Crawford’s game, and this performance against a fellow all-time great secured his place on the short list of greatest fighters in this generation.

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Canelo Alvarez: B-

Canelo simply found himself overmatched against Crawford. The scorecards of 115-113, 115-113 and 116-112 suggest the fight was closer than it was, but it was Canelo on the receiving end of a boxing lesson. It wasn’t as if Alvarez wasn’t trying. He rumbled forward and attacked Crawford’s body. The problem was that Crawford was extremely well-prepared for everything Canelo had to offer. Alvarez struggled to string combinations together or even cut off the ring and was routinely beaten to the punch in exchanges. In the later rounds, Crawford grew stronger and skillfully worked inside the pocket, which should have played to Canelo’s strength. However, the fight was beaten out of Canelo and the frustrated champion showed it in both,his body language and on his face. The version of Canelo seen on Saturday may have beaten most fighters, but he was outskilled and outsmarted by the cream of the crop.

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Christian Mbilli: Grade: B-

Mbilli had one strategy and was lucky to escape Las Vegas with a draw in an entertaining slugfest. Early on, he was relentless in his pursuit of Lester Martinez and applied constant pressure, landing power punches. Normally, that strategy is enough to get the opposition to fold. Unfortunately, Martinez was more than up for the challenge with exceptional conditioning and a sturdy chin. Mbilli won’t be criticized for a lack of effort. Rather, his downfall was his failure to adjust once it was evident that Plan A wasn’t going to be enough. By the mid-to-late rounds, Mbilli ran out of gas and was absorbing a lot of punishment, including an alarming amount of uppercuts. But the WBC interim super middleweight champion pushed through fatigue and fought hard to hear the final bell.

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Lester Martinez: Grade: B+

There were concerns going into his bout with Mbilli about Martinez’s ability to weather the forthcoming storm. He passed that test with flying colors, holding firm during Mbilli’s initial blitz. His granite chin couldn’t be cracked, and Martinez made some mild adjustments that paid off, including unleashing an uppercut in close quarters that routinely racked up points and slowed the WBC interim champion down. It was clear Martinez had fully prepared for a high-octane battle and appeared to be pulling away in the later rounds as the French-Cameroonian began to fade. The split-draw result may not be desired, but the fighter out of Guatemala proved he belongs in the upper crust of the 168-pound division.

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Sunday report card

Naoya Inoue: Grade A-

Inoue didn’t need to be “The Monster” to rout Akhmadaliev and retain his undisputed junior featherweight titles. Instead, he fought intelligently, avoided the power of Akhmadaliev and landed thunderous body shots that wore on his physically strong opponent. Inoue was supposed to be in for a tough test against Akhmadaliev, but he passed the exam by deploying a strategy that relied on speed and technique to thwart his opponent. Although he wasn’t close to getting a knockout, Inoue beat up and embarrassed Akhmadaliev in every facet of the fight. He punished Akhmadaliev with combinations from distance, avoided Akhmadaliev’s counterpunching with relative ease and bludgeoned his torso with wicked body work. Inoue was brilliant, and it’s frightening to know that he doesn’t need to knock out an opponent to dominate.

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Murodjon Akhmadaliev: Grade: D+

Akhmadaliev simply had no answers for Inoue’s speed and technique. He wasn’t strong or fast enough to defeat “The Monster” and relied on counterpunching to pull him through. That plan had zero chance of working, because Inoue was clearly operating on a different plateau. The skill gap between Inoue, the No. 1 fighter in the division, and No. 3 Akhmadaliev was extraordinarily wide. Akhmadaliev looked disheveled and lost against an opponent who presented a puzzle he had no idea how to solve. Against most opponents, Akhmadaliev could rely on his physicality and counterpunching to pull out the win, but he had no such luck against one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world.