By: Sean Crose
It wasn’t so long ago that the idea of a fight between super middleweight kingpin Canelo Alvarez and former lightweight titlist Terence Crawford seemed to land on just this side of outrageous. Brilliant as he was, Crawford had only had one fight above welterweight – and that was at junior middleweight. How in the world could he compete with Canelo, who had gone up as far as light heavyweight in order to win titles? Again, it looked like a battle between Canelo and Crawford would be a high end novelty at most. Famed trainer Abel Sanchez perhaps said what most people were thinking back in April when he called the potential fight “ridiculous.”
Then, something happened. People began to take the fight seriously. And the truth is, they were right to. One needs to only click on a Crawford fight on YouTube to see how good a fighter he actually is. Crawford after all can switch stances like no one since Marvin Hagler. He also has extraordinary footwork, can fight out of an impressive crouch, and has the ability to turn off the lights. (Though we haven’t seen much of his power at junior middleweight). What’s more, it’s largely acknowledged that Canelo is getting older. If not older then perhaps a bit worn.
The truth is the man has fought enough for two careers, at least by modern standards. Since losing a title bout to Dimitri Bivol several years back, Canelo hasn’t seemed to be himself. The truth though is that the man had reached such heights that it was hard to imagine him maintaining his historical hot streak for long. The fact bottom line is that people are right to give Crawford a real chance in this fight. That doesn’t mean, though, that Canelo is just going to go belly up. Sure enough, in all likelihood, he’ll win the fight. That might be tough for some fans to swallow, but it’s the truth.
None of this is to say that Crawford can’t beat Canelo. Sure enough, he has a good chance of doing so. Canelo however, simply has a better chance of winning due to his patience, his size, his power, and his experience on the big stage. Aside from his destruction of Errol Spence several years back, Crawford has never really fought on the biggest of stages. Canelo’s been fighting under the hottest of spotlights forever. He can also hit hard, destructively hard, career-endingly hard. Crawford might pull out the upset when he fights Canelo this September, but he will have put himself at risk in doing so..