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Promoter Bob Arum says he is not counting out his former fighter Terence Crawford in a title challenge against WBA/WBC/WBO super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez if they meet this September in a 12-round mega-fight.
Threat that affects the switch
Arum believes Crawford’s (37, 39 KOs) ability to switch strikes will affect Canelo (62-2-2, 39 KOs) just as it did Errol Spence when they fought in 2023. Errol was outmatched against Crawford, similar slow, exhausted and nowhere near the fighter he had been in 2018.
Crawford’s southpaw over Canelo probably won’t faze the Mexican star because he’s fought a lot of left-handed fighters and never had a problem with them. If Bud goes southpaw, it won’t affect the fight, except if he takes hard shots while in a different stance.
The real issue that Arum doesn’t mention is that Crawford is too old, small and weak to fight at 168. He’s likely hoping to bulk up 14 pounds and double what Floyd Mayweather Jr. did. against a 22-year-old Canelo. in 2013.
If Mayweather and Canelo were to fight now, the version of Floyd that fought Canelo would be eliminated. Alvarez is much stronger and more experienced now, and he would never accept a catch weight of 152 pounds. Floyd only threw punches, only right hands, held and moved all night.
That style wouldn’t work now because Canelo would land the harder shots and be seen as the aggressor, forcing Floyd to run. Crawford will do the same because he is too old and weak to stand and trade with Canelo. Just so you know, Terence will be 38 in September.
“I wouldn’t count Crawford in any fight because he has a unique talent; he’s a great boxer and he’s totally ambidextrous,” Bob Arum said in Fighthype when asked about Terence Crawford’s chances against Canelo Alvarez.
“He drives his opponent crazy because they train to fight a right-handed fighter and end up fighting a southpaw. That’s what happened to Errol (when he fought Crawford on June 29, 2023). Spence went training for a right-handed fighter and all he saw was a left-handed fighter.
“I think what Crawford is looking for is Manny Pacquiao vs. Oscar De La Hoya,” Arum said of the type of upset situation Terence is looking for against Canelo.
No catchweight
It was a different situation when Oscar De La Hoya fought Manny Pacquiao in 2008. De La Hoya was a part-time fighter at that point in his career, and had been fighting at junior middleweight. He agreed to fight Pacquiao at a catch weight of 145 and then put on too much weight by dieting. He looked terrible, putting on weight, and it showed in the fight.
Canelo wouldn’t diet or cut weight for Crawford, and he’s not a part-time fighter like Oscar. If Crawford thinks Canelo will be another De La Hoya, he’s mistaken. They are two different people.
Canelo stays in shape and won’t agree to give Bud a catchweight handicap like De La Hoya did to Pacquiao. Oscar should never have done that because he was the ‘Golden Boy’, the superstar of that fight, and he could have insisted that Pacquiao move up to 154 to fight him. It was a strange situation where De La Hoya leaned back to give Manny a better chance to level the playing field. In doing so, he weakened and lost.
