Oscar De La Hoya believes Canelo Alvarez will be too big and powerful for welterweight Terence Crawford if that fight comes of next.
De La Hoya agrees with Top Rank promoter Bob Arum about Canelo (60-2-2,39 KOs) running through the 147-pounder Crawford 40-0, 31 KOs), who is smaller & weaker than Jermell Charlo.
Oscar does, however, think the 36-year-old Crawford will do well for the first six or seven rounds, but then Canelo will turn up the heat on the Nebraska native and take him into the deep waters to take him out.
For the time being, Canelo isn’t interested in fighting Crawford, but he’s left open the possibility of fighting him in the future.
It’s important that Canelo fight Crawford before he gets much older and starts mixing it up with the beasts at 154.
When Crawford starts facing the younger, bigger & stronger fighters at junior middleweight like Tim Tszyu & Brian Mendoza, those guys could negate his skills advantage with their one-punch power.
Canelo too big for Crawford
“Obviously, Crawford is the craftier boxer, but Canelo has the size, he has the power, and it’s like [Bob] Arum said, ‘He’ll run right through him,'” said Oscar De La Hoya to Fighthype about Canelo Alvarez being too much for Terence Crawford.
Unless Canelo fights Crawford next year, he’s going to be 38 in 2025, and that may be too old for him to give the Mexican star a decent fight. Again, the longer Canelo waits to fight Crawford, the greater the possibility the match is a one-sided contest similar to the Jermell Charlo mismatch.
“It’ll be a tough fight, but stylistically. Yeah, it’ll be a one-sided fight for maybe, let’s say, seven rounds, and then Canelo starts attacking, attacking,” said De La Hoya.
“He starts to take it to deep waters, and the power will eventually be too much. Will it be a great fight? Will it be a huge event? Absolutely.
Benavidez beats Canelo “easy”
“I think Benavidez will win easy,” said De La Hoya when asked about his thoughts on a fight between Canelo and David Benavidez.
We may never get the chance to see Canelo fight Benavidez because the ‘Mexican Monster’ could lose to Demetrius Andrade next month. If that happens, that’ll be the end of any chance for a Canelo-Benavidez contest.
“He [Benavidez] has the better arsenal, he has the better footwork, the jab is incredible, and just the fact that he’s young. You have to take a look at that,” said De La Hoya.
“It’s like, for instance, it’ll literally be like Del Hoya-Chavez, it’ll be Benavidez-Canelo, and I think it’s the same age as well. He’s the bigger guy. So look, I’m not knocking Canelo.’
Benavidez looks like a light heavyweight, and he might not be able to make the 168-lb limit by next year. De La Hoya didn’t make any mention of how painfully think Benavidez looked at the weigh-in for his last fight in March against Caleb Plant.
“I’m the one who got him a $365 million contract for five years,” said De La Hoya. “Why would I be knocking him? It’s just ridiculous when I say something about Canelo, it’s only criticizing the ability inside the ring because I’m a fighter myself, and I can critique, and I have my opinion just as a fighter.
“Then these guys have to go with all this personal s**t]. Forget all that; that’s nonsense. I think that Canelo has done great for the sport. Obviously, we built him, he has done amazing, and he’s still doing amazing. Is he slowing down? Naturally.
“He’s getting older, that’s what happens. Is he going to be around for a bit longer? Absolutely. In big fights? Yes. Let’s make those fights happen,” said De La Hoya.
