Trainer Abel Sanchez says Terence Crawford won’t be able to do what Gennadiy Golovkin did by standing in front of Canelo Alvarez to hold him off with his power.
Canelo Will Land Punches
Sanchez notes that Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) doesn’t hit like GGG did, isn’t a natural 160 or 168-pounder, and hasn’t given himself time to strengthen his body.
“He’s a proud guy. He’s a guy that fights to win, but he’s going to have to stop. When he stops and has those moments in the fight that he had against Madrimov, Canelo is going to be able to go between him, between his punches. He’ll be able to time him and be able to hit him. And if he hits him, he’ll slow him down,” said trainer Abel Sanchez to Secondsout, discussing the Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford fight on September 13th.
Crawford obviously knows that Turki Alalshikh doesn’t want to watch a Tom and Jerry fight. He’s going to want action to entertain the millions of fans on Netflix and the ones that will be attending the event at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. So, Terence will engage, and that’ll allow Canelo to land his big punches.
Crawford vs. GGG Power
“There’s no way Crawford can do what Golovkin did. Golovkin is a different animal,” said Sanchez. “He was a 160-pounder, very strong, very dominant, a big puncher, and Crawford doesn’t have that. Crawford has great skills, but he doesn’t have that punch to keep Canelo off of him. Golovkin had that punch and that strength to keep Canelo off of him to keep him from doing whatever he wanted. I don’t think Crawford has that. Even at 160 and 168, it doesn’t matter.”
Crawford doesn’t possess Golovkin-like power. He was a special fighter, power-wise. GGG’s jab was arguably more powerful than Crawford’s best power shot. He can’t duplicate Gennadiy’s power, going up from 154 to 168 to fight Canelo.
We saw in Crawford’s last fight at 154 against ‘Little GGG’ Israil Madrimov that he doesn’t have power at junior middleweight. He was punching at the welterweight level still and was forced to win by outworking Madrimov with volume down the stretch. Going up two divisions to 168, it’s going to be even more of a problem for Crawford.
A Rushed Crawford
“He hasn’t had the time to develop that strength and that body strength to get that punching power to deal with a big truck like Canelo. So, you can’t compare Golovkin to this Crawford,” said Sanchez.
It’s been a big rush job for Crawford to take the fight with Canelo. Terence chose not to take tune-up fights to get acclimated to the 168-lb division. And while he’s put on weight, that’s going to translate to him being transformed into another Golovkin in the power department.
