Trainer Stephen Edwards believes Terence Crawford has enough size, strength, conditioning and technical ability to move up to 168 and defeat unified super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez.
Edwards believes Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) couldn’t beat David Benavidez, David Morrell, Artur Beterbiev or Dmitry Bivol. These guys are too big and too technical for the 37-year-old Crawford. But the 34-year-old Canelo (62-2-2, 39 KOs) is starting to show signs of age and is beatable to Crawford.
Vulnerable champion
Canelo turns 35 on July 18 and has failed to knock out his last six opponents. His last knockout occurred three years ago against Caleb Plant on November 6, 2021.
The Mexican star has not indicated that he will fight Crawford and he will not agree to the fight unless he feels he can win. His net worth is estimated at $250 million. So whatever money Turki Alalshikh could offer Alvarez wouldn’t entice him to take the Crawford fight unless he wanted to. He already has enough money to live richly for 20 lifetimes, and he can continue to earn many millions per fight even if he endures slight resistance.
“Yeah, I think he can go up to 168 and fight certain people. Do I think he can fight Benavidez or Morrell? No, they are too big, too skilled and too big. That would be a lot to overcome,” said Stephen Edwards Fight hypeHe talked about Terence Crawford being too small to fight Benavidez or Morrell at super middleweight.
“Canelo comes from the smaller weights and is the same size as Crawford. I actually think Crawford is a little taller. Crawford’s arms are much longer and he has the much better gas tank. I’ve never seen Crawford tired.
“Canelo let’s let the guys off the hook these days because when he was on his best run he would normally stop them. Now he lets them off because he doesn’t have the extra boost in his tank. If Bud fought Canelo at 168, Bud would be full of calories. He could eat whatever he wanted at any time of the day,” Edwards said.
Crawford is also getting pretty old at 37 and almost lost his debut at 154 against Israil Madrimov on August 3rd. With the weak punches he landed against Madrimov, he won’t be able to win rounds against Canelo. Those punches looked weak compared to when he fought at 147, 140 and 135.
The judges give Canelo the round against Crawford, even though he is overloaded. If Canelo’s punches are much harder, he will win the rounds. Crawford doesn’t hit as hard as Jermell Charlo or Erislandy Lara, and those guys were outnumbered against Canelo.
Genius at work?
“His energy would be completely out of control. He’ll probably come into the ring at 159 or 160 pounds. There’s no need to get to 168 just because that’s the weight limit. He has to be quick in this fight,” Edwards said of Crawford.
“I told him (Crawford), ‘The fight you fought that night (against Viktor Postol at 140, eight years ago, on July 23, 2016), that’s the fight that could beat Canelo.’ He kind of smiled. I think Bud is a genius, and sometimes when you’re a genius, you don’t know you’re a genius. He has the ability to make adjustments in fights.”
The fight against Viktor Postol happened a long time ago, when Crawford was 28 years old. He’s 37 now and doesn’t look as young, fast or agile as he did in the Postol fight. Crawford has aged. So there’s no point in comparing this version of Crawford to the version that fought Postol as an argument for why he’ll beat Canelo. This version of Crawford no longer exists.
That was a different person. If he were a monstrous puncher like Artur Beterbiev, it wouldn’t be a big deal that Crawford isn’t as young as he used to be. He is not a great puncher and wins his fights through speed, reflexes and boxing skills. That won’t be enough to beat Canelo given his current physical condition, and the judges won’t do him any favors.
“I don’t think he can beat people like Bivol and Beterbiev. I think that’s too much, but Canelo,” Edwards said. “He’s a great fighter, but my eyes tell me he’s slowing down a bit. The Canelo who fought against Berlanga. Three years ago, Canelo would knock out Berlanga. This isn’t a fight. This is a public execution.
“The fact that he let Berlanga go the distance. He let Munguia go the distance. He let Charlo go the distance. Buds movement, conditioning and strength. Bud is much stronger than you think. I’m not saying he’s stronger than Canelo. He is strong enough. It’s not a weightlifting competition,” Edwards said.
