Boxing

Former Two Division Champion Doubts Terence Crawford’s Chances Against Canelo Alvarez

Former two division champion skeptical of Terence Crawford's chances against Canelo Alvarez.
Apratim Banerjee|
IMAGO / PA Images

Terence Crawford is set to take on Canelo Alvarez with the undisputed super middleweight title on the line for the showdown.

'Bud' Crawford possesses an unblemished professional record of 41-0-0 with 31 knockout wins, while Canelo Alvarez is 63-2-2 with 39 knockouts. Both fighters are four division world champions and have held the undisputed title, and with a win, either fighter can catapult their standing in the greatest of all time conversation.

The main talking point of the fight has been Crawford making a significant jump up in weight. His last fight was at 154 lbs, but the Alvarez fight is at 168 lbs. There's been heavy debate regarding how 'Bud' will adjust to the weight difference, and former two-division champion Danny Garcia has now chimed in on the matter.

Speaking to FightHype, Garcia doubted Crawford's power can transition to the higher weight class. He pointed out the Israil Madrimov fight at 154 lbs, saying:

Just me assessing Crawford’s last performance when he went up to 154 against Madrimov, I feel like his power really didn’t carry up that much to 154. So I feel like 168 — that’s tough. I mean, if he pulls this off you got to put him up there like top three of all time. That means he’ll unify three divisions, all four belts in three different divisions, going up all them weight classes to beat Canelo. If he wins this fight you probably got to put him top three of all time.

He then added:

But it’s going to be a steep, steep hill to climb. It’s going to be tough. If he can do it all praise to him but I think it will be too much for him. That’s just my personal opinion.

Many have criticized Canelo Alvarez for his recent lackluster outing against William Scull. While Canelo won a comfortable unanimous decision, the fight lacked action, sparking rumors that the Mexican might be slowing down.

Garcia, however, reckons Scull is a bigger fighter while Crawford started competing at 135 lbs. He doubts how Crawford is going to react when Canelo Alvarez hits him with full force. He said:

Listen, like I said before, if Crawford can pull this off he’s top three of all time, you can’t take that away from him. But like I said before, it’s going to be tough. It’s going to be tough when you start getting hit with them bombs, you’re like ‘whoa.'

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Apratim Banerjee
APRATIM BANERJEE

Apratim is a Boxing and Soccer reporter for On SI. He has been in the industry for five years, having also worked for The Sporting News, Sportskeeda, EssentiallySports, and more. After coming from an engineering background, he started pursuing a career in sports media. Apratim also holds an MSc. Sport Marketing degree from Loughborough University London and is a keen practitioner of social media and digital marketing. In his spare time, Apratim likes to play an array of sports and practice calisthenics. He is also an avid enthusiast of improving his martial arts skills.