LAS VEGAS – Terence Crawford masterfully maneuvered his way around the ring during his matchup against Canelo Alvarez to stun the super middleweight king with a unanimous decision win.

Much of the prefight discussion centered around whether or not Crawford could handle Alvarez’s power. Not only did he handle it, he dished it back, too.

“He didn't hit as hard as I thought he would. He's definitely technical, but I have been hit harder,” Crawford said during his post fight remarks.

“I feel like I had to separate myself. I didn't want to eat too soon. I was buying my time, and when the time came, I let my hands go.

“I was looking at his body language and things like that and him trying to amp himself up and telling me, 'C'mon champ, let's go.' I was like, 'I'm not going to feed into him and give him the opportunity to land a lucky shot’ so I stuck to what was working.”

Crawford (42-0, 31 KOs) mostly controlled the second half of the fight and swept the final two rounds on the official scorecards. Two of the judges had it even after 10 rounds, and Alvarez (63-3-2, 39 KOs) could have mustered a majority draw if his body was cooperating better.

“You have to win the championship rounds, especially since he was the champion. I knew I had to close out the show,” said Crawford.

The switch-hitting Crawford also addressed sticking to his left-handed stance throughout the fight.

“I wanted to come out orthodox, but my coaches were telling me that my southpaw stance is going to kill him,” Crawford continued.

“He's not going to get past the jab. His feet was slow. I kept turning him. We knew what he was trying to do with the wide hooks. I think he knew that I was faster than he thought I was. If he threw a lot of jabs, I was going to counter him. I think he respected my power.

“He was definitely frustrated. What he was trying to do wasn't working. When he got hit, he just shook his head like, 'I can't believe I got hit with that.'”