Trainer Bob Santos is picking Canelo Alvarez to beat Terence Crawford due to his size and power for their 12-round headliner next month on September 13th on Netflix at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
Santos Picks the Bigger Fighter
Santos believes that Canelo (63-2-2, 39 KOs) will have too much size and strength for Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) to overcome.
“I’m going with Canelo. I think they’re both great fighters. Terence obviously has earned the right. Would it shock me if he were to pull off an upset? No. But gun to my head, I’ve got to go with Canelo, the bigger, stronger guy, who has been at the weight class for a much longer period of time,” said trainer Bob Santos to Fighthype, picking Canelo Alvarez to defeat Terence Crawford on September 13th.
Crawford Looks Older in Camp
If Crawford had moved up and proved himself at 168 against one of the top fighters, like Christian Mbilli, you’d have to go with him winning against Alvarez. But for Crawford to be taking this fight without showing what he can do, it’s too much weight and too many divisions to pick him as the winner. Crawford will be 38 on September 28, and he’s looked old in training for this fight. Physically, he appears to have aged in the last twelve months.
“The caveat is this. Canelo is a smart prizefighter, and so he’s done enough in these other fights with [William] Scull to realize, ‘Hey, I don’t need to go to this extreme to get the win.’ He conserves his body, and I think he’s done that in his past fights,” said Santos.
Canelo could afford to coast against Scull, Edgar Berlanga, and Jaime Munguia. Those three were average fighters with inflated records that it enabled Alvarez to do what he pleased. He can’t do that against Crawford because he’ll try to outbox him in the same way Floyd Mayweather Jr. did in 2013.
“I think he has to here, knowing his legacy is truly on the line and he has to go for broke, take more risks, know that there’s going to be more punishment to his body. I think he’s going to be willing to do that to get to Crawford in spots,” said Santos about Canelo.
Motivation from a Big Purse
If the reports are true about Canelo receiving $100 million from Turki Alalshikh for this fight, he’s going to put in much more effort than he did in his last three contests against William Scull, Edgar Berlanga, and Jaime Munguia. He’s being paid so much money, and won’t want to let Turki down. Also, going against a smaller, older guy has to make Canelo feel like he can’t afford to underperform.
“That being said, I think the punch, the size, is going to be a little bit too much,” said Santos, picking Canelo to beat Crawford using his size and power advantage.
The size, power, and experience advantage that Canelo has over Crawford will be a telling factor in this fight. It’s too big a jump up in weight for Crawford, who is essentially coming up three divisions without any tune-up at 168. It’s too late for that now.
A year out of the ring won’t have helped Crawford. He hasn’t fought since his narrow win over Israil Madrimov on August 3rd last year at 154, and he didn’t look good in that fight. He won a 12-round unanimous decision by the scores 115-113, 116-112, and 115-113. It could have gone the other way.
