Terence Crawford’s win over Canelo Alvarez was the most meaningful super middleweight fight contested Saturday night at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

It crowned Crawford as undisputed champion in a third weight class, unprecedented among male boxers during the four-belt era. The five-division champ’s impressive victory also validated Crawford’s decision to move up 14 pounds and challenge another generational great who critics considered too big and too strong for a fighter whose best work had been done in the welterweight division.

With all due respect to the historical significance of Crawford’s win, Lester Martinez and Christian Mbilli delivered the most entertaining, competitive fight on the card.

Martinez-Mbilli was 30 minutes of sustained savagery, a spectacular slugfest we won’t soon forget. Guatemala’s Martinez and Montreal’s Mbilli took turns battering each other in ways that would’ve broken most boxers.

Yet there they were, slugging it out right up until the final bell. Their brutal battle appropriately resulted in a split draw.

Judge Patricia Morse Jarman scored it the widest, 97-93 for Martinez. Chris Migliore gave Mbilli the edge, 96-94, and Glenn Feldman had it even, 95-95.

Unlike some of the other fighters who boxed on the Alvarez-Crawford undercard, Martinez and Mbilli took full advantage of the exposure by delivering an instant classic. They provided precisely what Turki Alalshikh sought, an action-packed, back-and-forth fight that left fans wanting more.

And more they should get in the form of a Martinez-Mbilli rematch. Once they take long breaks to recover from the relentless violence they endured, Alalshikh should make it as worthwhile financially as possible for Martinez (19-0-1, 16 KOs) and Mbilli (29-0-1, 24 KOs) to agree to fight again.

Neither Crawford (42-0, 31 KOs) nor Alvarez (63-3-2, 39 KOs) would consider fighting Martinez or Mbilli, thus there is no bigger fight for either of them at 168. Riyadh Season also has the resources to ensure that they can’t say no to a rematch.

After the incredible brawl we witnessed Saturday night, we can only hope Martinez and Mbilli are as eager to fight again as they were the first time.

As well as Naoya Inoue performed a few hours later, Crawford’s decisive defeat of Alvarez should end any pound-for-pound debate for the time being.

Jumping up two more weight classes and beating a fighter of Alvarez’s caliber is impossible to ignore, even for those that previously favored Oleksandr Usyk and Inoue over Crawford on their pound-for-pound lists.

The Ring’s voters agreed and Crawford supplanted Uysk in our top spot. Ukraine’s Uysk moved down to No. 2 and Inoue is now third.

Inoue (31-0, 27 KOs) was brilliant in his own right in outclassing Uzbek southpaw Murodjon Akhmadaliev (14-2, 11 KOs) on Sunday in Nagoya, Japan. Unfortunately for the undisputed 122-pound champ, Crawford overshadowed what he did with a legacy-defining victory over an opponent it was once unthinkable for him to fight, let alone defeat.

A lot of things went right Saturday night at Allegiant Stadium, but TKO/Zuffa Boxing and Netflix should’ve ensured Alvarez versus Crawford started much earlier than 12:55 a.m. ET.

One of the most common complaints among boxing fans on the East coast is that main events begin entirely too late, particularly when pay-per-view cards cost $75 or more. All you needed was a Netflix subscription — and, depending upon your location, probably plenty of caffeine — to watch Crawford defeat Alvarez.

The price was right, but Michael Buffer didn’t announce Crawford as the winner until nearly 2 a.m. ET. If the 10-fight card started earlier on multiple platforms prior to shifting to Netflix and less time was wasted during the stream, this wouldn’t have happened.

If the opening bell rang earlier, Netflix’s total viewership of Canelo-Crawford would’ve exceeded the 41.4 million the streaming service reported Monday. An estimated 20.3 million viewers watched it in the United States.

The Netflix portion of the card also should’ve started at 8 p.m. ET, not 9. Showtime eventually moved the start time of four-fight pay-per-view shows up an hour toward the end of its 37-year run in boxing, which seemed to satisfy weary fans in the East.

While Netflix streamed Alvarez-Crawford globally to more than 300 million subscribers, it was mainly marketed to U.S. customers, millions of whom reside in the Eastern time zone.

Broadcast networks don’t air the Super Bowl at 1 a.m. ET. because it would eliminate millions of potential viewers.

Canelo-Crawford was boxing’s Super Bowl, the most important bout in the U.S. from a business standpoint since Mayweather-Pacquiao 10 years ago. It should’ve been streamed at a more appropriate time, especially with the opportunity to show the best boxing has to offer to millions more viewers than usual.

■ It seems perfectly fitting that Lamont Roach will fight Isaac Cruz, the first opponent Gervonta Davis refused to give a rematch because their 12-round fight was too tough. Roach (25-1-2, 10 KOs) and Cruz (28-3-1, 18 KOs), who holds the WBC interim 140-pound title, are expected to meet sometime in December. Davis’ rematch with Roach was postponed twice before the WBA lightweight champ’s “fight” against Jake Paul was announced for November 14 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.

■ American Jermaine Franklin and Kazakhstan’s Ivan Dychko failed to fight Saturday night like they recognized what was at stake on the Alvarez-Crawford undercard. An underwhelming Franklin (24-2, 15 KOs) won their boring bout by unanimous decision, though he did little more than show why the 36-year-old Dychko (15-1, 14 KOs) was matched so carefully following appearances at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics.

■ If you haven’t watched Gabriela Fundora fight, one of boxing’s best women will defend her Ring, IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO flyweight titles against Alexas Kubicki in a 10-round, 112-pound co-feature DAZN will stream Saturday night from Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, California (8 p.m. ET). Sebastian Fundora’s younger sister has developed into a compelling blend of technical skill and aggression, knowing knockouts sell, particularly when women are trying to lure more viewers. Fundora (16-0, 8 KOs), of Coachella, California, has won four of her past five fights by knockout. Canada's Kubicki (13-2, 1 KO) has not been stopped.