Eddie Hearn says he believes Canelo Alvarez’s big 154-pound frame will be a problem for Terence Crawford trying to win their fight on September 13th.
“I do think size will be an issue because I don’t think Crawford is a big 154-pounder,” said promoter Eddie Hearn to Ring Magazine. “Just because you see them head-to-head [the same size]. I’ve had a lot of fighters fight Canelo. Everyone goes, ‘Look at the size of him compared to Canelo.'”
Crawford’s lack of size and experience at 168 are what could be his downfall in this fight. The sparring that he’s gotten against bigger fighters may not help because he’s facing Canelo. His hired helpers can’t prepare him for that.
“Callum Smith and Rocky Fielding. It really doesn’t matter. This really isn’t about size. It may play a part, but I think it’s more about skill and game plan,” said Hearn.
I believe it is about size, power, and experience in the super middleweight division. Canelo’s power and size will play a part in the outcome against Crawford.
“You can make the argument that Canelo is too big. Crawford, as good as he is, stepped up against Madrimov, and he struggled a little bit. He won, but it was competitive,” said podhost Teddy Atlas. “We didn’t understand how good Madrimov was.”
Crawford struggled a lot against Israil Madrimov. He still won the fight by a 12-round unanimous decision, but he looked his age. That fight showed that Crawford wasn’t the same fighter he’d been at 147, 140, and 135. He hit his ceiling going up to 154. Now, he could be over his head, jumping up to 168 to challenge Canelo for his undisputed championship.
“We underestimated him because he only had 10 pro fights, but he had 300 amateur fights. He was a good, solid fighter. So, we started to knock down Crawford a little bit because our expectations were so high,” said Atlas.
Teddy is assuming that the reason Crawford struggled is because of how good Israil Madrimov was in their fight on August 3, 2024. Another angle is that Crawford’s age and inactivity caught up to him. He’d been out of the ring for a year, celebrating his win over Errol Spence in 2023.
