In the Canelo-Crawford co-main event, Christian Mbilli and Lester Martinez drew after twelve intense rounds.
Las Vegas witnessed another boxing spectacle on Saturday night at the Allegiant Stadium: In the co-main event of Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford, Christian Mbilli and Lester Martinez delivered a thrilling super middleweight clash that ended in a fair draw after twelve rounds.
Mbilli (29-0-1, 24 knockouts), who was putting his WBC interim title on the line, faced the unbeaten Martinez (19-0-1, 16 knockouts). The judges scored the fight differently: 95-95 draw, 97-93 for Martinez and 96-94 for Mbilli. The belt thus remains in the Frenchman’s possession, but the Central American was able to box his way into the international limelight with a strong performance.
The undercard also had it all:
- Irish super welterweight Callum Walsh (15-0, 11 knockouts) clearly dominated Fernando Vargas (17-1, 15 knockouts) over ten rounds and won unanimously on points (100-90, 99-91, 99-91). It was Vargas’ first defeat as a professional.
- Brandon Adams (26-4, 16 knockouts) prevailed in the rematch against Serhii Bohachuk (26-3, 24 knockouts) after a tough ten-round fight. All three judges saw Adams ahead (99-91, 98-92, 98-92). Adams had already stopped the Ukrainian early in 2021.
- In the heavyweight division, Jermaine Franklin Jr. (24-2, 15 knockouts) inflicted the first defeat of his professional career on Kazakh giant Ivan Dychko (15-1, 14 knockouts). Franklin secured a unanimous points victory with scores of 96-93, 95-94 and 97-92.
This strong evening in Las Vegas set the course for exciting title fights in several weight classes.