LAS VEGAS – One of the only things that surprised Terence Crawford about Canelo Alvarez was that the former undisputed super middleweight champion didn’t hit as hard as he expected.

Crawford determined after he went 12 rounds with Alvarez that the Mexican star wasn’t the most powerful puncher he has encountered in 42 professional fights. That distinction belongs to Egidijus Kavaliauskas.

“I been hit harder,” Crawford said during his post-fight press conference Saturday night. “In a real fight … ‘Mean Machine’ [Kavaliauskas] hit harder than Canelo to me, to be honest.”

Lithuania’s Kavaliauskas rocked Crawford with a right hand in the third round of their WBO welterweight title bout in December 2019 at Madison Square Garden.

That shot should’ve caused what would still stand as the only knockdown suffered during Crawford’s 17-year pro career. Crawford’s left knee touched the canvas two seconds after he took that punch from Kavaliauskas, yet referee Ricky Gonzalez ruled Crawford didn’t fall as a result of the shot.

Regardless, Crawford came back quickly, dropped Kavaliauskas three times and beat him by ninth-round technical knockout.

The five-division champion from Omaha, Nebraska, didn’t drop Alvarez, who has never been down. Crawford didn’t get caught with any punches that impacted him, either, on his way to winning a unanimous decision at a sold-out Allegiant Stadium.

“He didn’t hit as hard as I thought he [would],” Crawford said during Netflix’s post-fight show. “You know, he’s definitely technical, but you know, I been hit harder.”

Alvarez (63-3-2, 39 KOs) is a longtime super middleweight who once owned a high knockout ratio. The four-division champion hasn’t produced a knockout in almost four years, however, and has gone all 12 rounds in each of his past eight fights.

Crawford (42-0, 31 KOs) is certain Alvarez was mindful of how hard he hits in the longtime welterweight champion’s debut at the super middleweight limit of 168 pounds. Alvarez’s granite chin prevented Crawford from truly hurting him, though, and Crawford won a unanimous decision by scores of 116-112 (Steve Weisfeld), 115-113 (Max De Luca) and 115-113 (Tim Cheatham).

Alvarez’s frustration was obvious as he continually failed to take control of a fight with a supposedly smaller opponent.

“I think he was trying to be competitive,” Crawford said, “but he respect my power, you know, and he respect my boxing ability and things like that. And I think what was frustrating him the most is, you know, all his big shots I was blocking and, you know, catching and countering. So, I think that was really, you know, a big factor in why he was frustrated.”