Terence Crawford says the fans who believe that he’ll be too small for Canelo Alvarez are affected by groupthink, forming their views of him based on what others are saying. He feels he has more than enough size to defeat Canelo (63-2-2, 39 KOs) and capture his undisputed super middleweight crown on September 12th at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
The Uncharted Territory of 168
The boxing fans who collectively think the 38-ish Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) is too small point out that he’s never fought at 168, and he looked weak in his debut at 154 last August. Crawford moved up from 147 after a year out of the ring to challenge Israil Madrimov for his WBA junior middleweight title from winning by a narrow 12-round unanimous decision. The fight was close enough that many fans, including Canelo, felt Madrimov won.
Now, Crawford is moving up two divisions after another year out of the ring to challenge Canelo for his four belts. Terence doesn’t want to take a tune-up against one of the 168-lb contenders, and that’s a red flag that his sole purpose in fighting Alvarez is for the retirement money. He’s reportedly getting $100 million and Canelo $150 million.
“I think me and Canelo will make for a great fight. It’s the best fight in boxing right now,” said Terence Crawford to Ring Magazine. “You got two first ballot Hall of Famers going head to head with each other. Everybody wants to see how Terence is going to do going up two weight classes to new territory to dethrone the undisputed champion.
It might not be a great fight if Crawford boxes Canelo like William Scull did. His trainer, Brian ‘BoMac’ McIntryre, already said they’re going to follow the Mayweather blueprint. That’s to box.
“I just think a lot of people are adopting other people’s thoughts,” said Crawford when told by the interviewer that many people view him as too small to fight Canelo. “A lot of people aren’t thinking for themselves.”
Crawford is way off. The reason fans think he doesn’t stand a chance against Canelo Alvarez are for these reasons:
- Never fought at 168
- Refusal to take a tune-up
- Year-long layoff
- Age: 38-ish now and looks it.
- Money focus
“If the fight [Canelo-Crawford] happens in September, because I don’t believe Alalshikh will pay the whole amount because he [Canelo] doesn’t deserve much less, because it [William Scull] was a boring fight,” said promoter Sampson Lewkowicz to Sean Zittel about his belief that Turki Alalshikh will pay Canelo Alvarez less money because his fight with William Scull on May 3rd was boring with neither fighter taking risks to make it entertaining.
Is Canelo Slipping?
It’s doubtful that Turki will give Canelo less money for the Crawford fight just because his match with William Scull was boring. I don’t think he cares. The interest Canelo vs. Crawford will attract are from fans who remember Alvarez from his younger days. They won’t be basing their views now on whether to order the fight on how he looked against Scull or Edgar Berlanga.
“I believe Crawford will beat Canelo and finish the ‘Face of Boxing.’ Divino [Rafael Espinoza], that can be the Face of Boxing. In Mexico, Canelo didn’t want to fight Benavidez for. Money doesn’t buy good fights,” said Sampson.
It doesn’t matter even if Crawford doesn’t beat Canelo on September 12th. He’s on his way out as the ‘Face of Boxing.’ His performances are getting worse every time out, and he’s going to get beaten by the contenders at 168 and 175, even if he continues to cherry-pick.
We just saw Canelo come close to losing against his hand-picked opponent William Scull, and that guy would lose to many of the top 15 contenders at 168. The way Canelo looked against him, he’d lose to Diego Pacheco, Christian Mbilli, Caleb Plant, Osleys Iglesias, and Bektemir Melikuziev.
The Edgar Berlanga fight took a lot out of Canelo. We saw that with how he couldn’t pull the trigger against Scull, and the aged look on his face and body. Alvarez is starting to look 40-ish, and his performances are at that level now.
