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Promoter Bob Arum says he is not ruling out his former fighter Terence Crawford in a title challenge against WBA, WBC and WBO super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez if they meet in September in a 12-round mega fight .
Threat of change
Arum feels Crawford’s (37 years old, 39 KOs) ability to trade punches will bother Canelo (62-2-2, 39 KOs), just as it did with Errol Spence when they fought in 2023. Errol was outmatched against Crawford. looking slow, exhausted and nowhere near the fighter he had been in 2018.
The fact that Crawford will go southpaw against Canelo probably won’t confuse the Mexican star because he has fought many southpaw fighters and has never had any problems with them. If Bud becomes southpaw, it won’t affect the fight other than him taking heavy hits while in a different stance.
The real problem Arum doesn’t mention is that Crawford is too old, small and weak to fight at 168. He probably hopes to gain 14 pounds and double what Floyd Mayweather Jr. did against the then 22-year-old Canelo. in 2013.
If Mayweather and Canelo fought now, the version of Floyd who fought Canelo would be knocked out. Alvarez is much stronger and more experienced now, and would never accept a weight of 152 pounds. Floyd just threw jabs, simple right hands, held and moved all night.
That style wouldn’t work now because Canelo would land the harder punches and would be seen as the aggressor, forcing Floyd to run. Crawford will do the same because he is too old and weak to stand up and negotiate with Canelo. Just so you know, Terence will turn 38 in September.
“I wouldn’t rule out Crawford in any fight because he has a unique talent; “He is a great boxer and puncher and is totally ambidextrous,” Bob Arum told fight when asked about Terence Crawford’s chances against Canelo Álvarez.
“He drives his opponent crazy because he trains to fight a right-handed fighter and ends up fighting a left-handed fighter. That’s what happened to Errol (when he fought Crawford on June 29, 2023). Spence trained for a right-handed fighter and all he saw was a southpaw fighter.
“I think what Crawford is looking for is Manny Pacquiao against Oscar De La Hoya,” Arum said about what kind of upset situation Terence is looking for against Canelo.
No weight caught
It was a different situation when Oscar De La Hoya fought Manny Pacquiao in 2008. De La Hoya was a washed-up part-time fighter at that point in his career, and had been fighting at junior middleweight. He agreed to face Pacquiao at a weight of 145 and then lost too much weight by dieting. He looked terrible, gaining weight, and it showed in the fight.
Canelo wouldn’t be dieting or cutting weight for Crawford, and he’s not a part-time fighter like Oscar was. If Crawford thinks Canelo will be another De La Hoya, he is kidding himself. They are two different people.
Canelo remains in shape and will not agree to give Bud a fixed weight disadvantage like De La Hoya did with Pacquiao. Oscar should never have done that because he was the ‘Golden Boy’, the superstar in that fight, and he could have insisted that Pacquiao move up to 154 to fight him. That was a strange situation where De La Hoya did everything he could to give Manny a better chance to even the playing field. By doing so, he became weak and lost.
