Coach Stephen Edwards says Canelo Alvarez’s handlers will need to start matching him more carefully if they want to prevent him from losing. Alvarez’s loss to the mover Teence Crawford on September 13 showed that he needs to be more selective.
Edwards Urges Careful Matchmaking
“Now, at this stage of his career, they got to be careful with how they match him,” said coach Stephen Edwards to YSM Sports Media, talking about Canelo Alvarez after his loss to Terence Crawford. “When you start going on the other side of your prime, all of your flaws become more accentuated.”
It’s a little hard for Canelo to be “careful” in who he faces when Turki Alalshikh is paying him $150 million to fight one of his favorite fighters, Crawford. He wasn’t going to turn that down. Also, Canelo had to fight William Scull because he needed his IBF title so that Crawford could fight for the undisputed championship.
“Canelo never had great stamina, but now that he’s getting older, you’re seeing it a little more. He lacks the closing gear anymore,” said Edwards.
The difference now is that Canelo can’t hide his poor stamina, as he was able to do during his prime years, because he has been forced to go the 12-round distance in his last eight fights. Before, Canelo was getting a lot of knockouts, so fans didn’t see his poor conditioning.
Ignoring Turki’s “Tom and Jerry” Speech
What’s made Alvarez look worse lately is that he’s fought back-to-back runners in his fights against Terence Crawford and William Scull. It was a little surprising that Crawford chose to move so much, because Turki Alalshikh paid him so much money.
He’d given his Tom and Jerry speech during one of the press conferences to let the fighters know that he didn’t want anyone running. Crawford did anyway, ignoring Turki’s wishes.
Target Sluggers Who Come Forward
Stephen says Canelo should fight guys who come straight after him, looking to slug it out. He states that he should avoid fighters who are going to move around the ring, making him use his feet.
Edwards believes that WBC interim super middleweight champion Christian Mbilli would be a good option for Canelo. However, he admits that Alvarez will absorb punishment against Mbilli because he throws a lot of punches. He does believe that with the way Mbilli comes forward, he’ll run into something from Canelo.