Tonight’s Live Boxing Results: Canelo Vs. Crawford

The wait’s over. Tonight in Las Vegas, Canelo Alvarez defends his super middleweight crown against Terence “Bud” Crawford at Allegiant Stadium, streaming live on Netflix.

Results

Callum Walsh (15-0, 11 KOs) defeated previously unbeaten Fernando Vargas Jr. (17-1, 15 KOs) by a lackluster 10-round unanimous decision in the co-feature match at junior middleweight. The judges’ scores were 99-91, 99-91, and 100-90. The fight appeared to be a little closer than the wide scores tuned in by the three judges, but it didn’t make much difference. It was a mismatch.

This fight was a massive step down in terms of excitement compared to the Mbilli vs. Martinez fight that came before it. Turki Alalshikh made a mistake using Walsh-Vargas Jr. as the chief support, as they looked more like fighters that belonged on the prelim card, filled with iffy prospects with uncertain futures.

Walsh did a lot of complaining during the fight, each time Vargas Jr. would hit him with a low blow. He made a point of turning to the referee to get him to step in. It made Walsh look weak, like he’s trying to get a point deduction to help him.

The Dana White backed Walsh, 24, was mostly jabbing, throwing straight lefts, and trying to get out of the way of the quick left hands that Vargas Jr. was throwing all night. Walsh fought like he was bored and realized that this was supposed to be a showcase fight for him to build his brand in front of the millions watching on Netflix.

It’s believed that the Ireland-born Walsh is one of the featured fighters that Dana White plans on using in his new league with Zuffa Boxing in 2026. The way he fought tonight, he didn’t win any new fans who would want to watch him in Dana’s UFC-like boxing league.

Christian Mbilli vs Lester Martinez Ends in a Draw

Christian Mbilli (29-0-1, 24 KOs) and Lester Martinez (19-0-1, 16 KOs) fought to a disappointing 10-round draw in a battle for Mbilli’s WBC interim super middleweight title. The scores were 97-93 for Martinez, 96-94 for Mbilli, and 95-95 a draw.

It was a brutal fight to score. Mbilli outworked Martinez, but his shots didn’t have as much power on them. In the second half of the fight, Lester landed a lot of hard uppercuts and powerful hooks that took something out of Mbilli. The referee played it lax as far as policing the shoving that Martinez was doing. He was shoulder and pushing off on Mbilli the entire fight, which should have resulted in a warning and penalty.

Fighters aren’t supposed to shove or shoulder the way that Lester was doing. It was excessive. A good referee would have said something about it, but this one let it go on without saying anything. Again, the fight would have had a different outcome if Martinez had been prevented from shoving and shouldering, as that was his primary line of defense.

Mohammed Alakel Survives Travis Crawford Test

Mohammed Alakel (6-0, 1 KOs) defeated Travis Crawford (7-5, 2 KOs) by a surprisingly competitive 10-round unanimous decision at a super featherweight in the first fight of the main card. The scores were 99-91, 98-92, and 98-92,

The stork-like 5’9″ Alakel had the better hand speed, but his punches had no power on them. Despite landing frequently, he couldn’t hurt Crawford, 22, or make him think twice about attacking him. In the ninth round, Crawford appeared to stun Alakel with a big right hand to the head.

Crawford continued to press in the 10th and landed a lot of hard punches on Alakel. It was a close round, one of the better ones in the fight. The performance by Alakel raises a lot of questions about what kind of future he’s going to have at super featherweight.

I don’t believe he has enough power to compete with the top fighters, and his skills aren’t good enough to defeat the technicians. At 21, he’s still young enough to develop, but it’s not a good sign that he’s severely lacking in the power department. The way Alakel looked tonight, he didn’t belong on the main card, and I don’t think he won any new fans with this performance.

Brandon Adams Dominates Serhii Bohachuk in Rematch

Brandon Adams (26-4, 16 KOs) outlanded and out-punched former WBC interim junior middleweight champion Serhii Bohachuk (26-3, 24 KOs) to win a wide 10-round unanimous decision in their rematch. The scores were 99-91, 98-92, and 98-92. With the victory, Adams proves to the fans that his eighth-round knockout win over Bohachuk in 2021 wasn’t a fluke.

Bohachuk started off strong in the first two rounds, connecting with powerful uppercuts and hooks to the side of Adams’ head. However, after the second round, Adams took over and used his superior punching power to connect with a lot of shots.

He stunned Bohachuk several times in the fight and had him wilting by the eighth round. The fast pace and the constant barrage of punches from Adams took a lot out of Serhii. Bohachuk had nothing on his punches in the entire second half.

Jermaine Franklin Edges Ivan Dychko in Questionable Win

Jermaine Franklin Jr. (24-2, 15 KOs) won a highly questionable 10-round unanimous decision over two-time Kazakhstan Olympian Ivan Dychko (15-1, 14 KOs) in heavyweight action. The judges’ scores were 96-93, 95-94, and 97-92. Boxing News 24 scored it for Dychko, 35, eight rounds to two. He landed the better shots in the fight and was the more active of the two. There was a lot of booing from the fans from the fifth round on due to the lack of action from both heavyweights.

Dychko was warned frequently for his nonstop clinching. In the eighth, he was penalized a point for holding. The seventh and eighth were Franklin’s best rounds of the fight. Dychko came back in the ninth and tenth to get the better of the action.

Franklin looked badly out of shape, carrying around a lot of fat in his upper body. He wasn’t throwing many punches in the fight due to his condition, and frequently bent forward. This resulted in Dycyko falling over him when throwing shots.

Raiko Santana Crushes Steven Nelson in One

Santana came out like a man late for his bus. Walked Nelson down, pounded him silly, and forced the stoppage with under 30 seconds left in the first. Nelson flapped his arms at the ref in protest, but come on — he’d been soaking up leather since the opening bell. Brutal, basic, and effective. Four on the spin for Santana, who looked like he could’ve gone another five without breaking a sweat.

Marco Verde W Sona Akale via KO (Round 4, Super Middleweight)Verde smashed Akale apart inside four, another unbeaten record intact. Akale folded under pressure — looked like a man who wanted out by round three. Verde gave him the exit. Brutal finish, big roar from the Mexican crowd early. Not much to learn, but Verde showed spite.

Reito Tsutsumi W Javier Martinez via TKO (Round 1, Super Featherweight)Tsutsumi ripped through Martinez in a round. Clinical, ruthless, no messing about. Martinez looked like he was thrown in too soon — no answers, just a human heavy bag. Tsutsumi barely blinked.

Sultan Almohamed W Martin Caraballo via Unanimous Decision (Super Lightweight)A four-round snoozer. Almohamed banked 40-36 across the board without ever breaking out of gear. Caraballo tried, bless him, but he was chasing shadows. Almohamed won every round and nobody in the building will remember it tomorrow.