Keith Thurman believes Terence Crawford saw the success Jermell Charlo had against Canelo Alvarez and will feel he can do the same thing if given the chance to fight him.
Thurman says Jermell protected himself well in his fight against Canelo last year on September 30, neutralizing the Mexican star’s offense. The problem was that Jermall forgot about his offense and ended up losing a wide 12-round unanimous decision. He was too focused on moving and holding.
Can Bud follow Jermell’s flawed blueprint?
Old ‘One Time’ Thurman says Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) will have watched that fight and will make sure to put more emphasis on his offense to defeat Canelo. Keith calls Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Dmitry Bivol as two fighters who found success against Canelo by fighting the perfect fight to defeat him.
Beating Crawford won’t do anything for Canelo’s legacy as he’s a smaller, older fighter just looking for a payday, who looked very average in his debut at 154 against Israil Madrimov at 3 August.
What Crawford lacks
- Force: Crawford’s debut at 154 showed a lack of punching power, and the glaring lack would be much worse at 168.
- Experience a 168: Crawford has never fought at super middleweight, so he would be flying by the seat of his pants against Canelo.
- Know: In Crawford’s fights at 135 and 140, he was buzzed by smaller fighters with nowhere near the same power as Canelo.
- Fearlessness: It goes without saying. Crawford didn’t attack Israil Madrimov like a shark because he was afraid of getting knocked out. Against Canelo, the fear he would have would lead to a dull fight involving a lot of movement. This is a bad deal for the fans because they will be paying for a lackluster fight.
Canelo will not receive any credit from fans for beating the 37-year-old Crawford because he is an older fighter who has shown no willingness to move up to 168 to prove himself against the Lions, David Benavidez and David Morrell . It’s just about Crawford wanting a payday to help with his retirement.
“The potential of speed, high quality defense,” Keith Thurman said Battle hype on what Terence Crawford would bring to a fight against Canelo Alvarez. “When Canelo fought (Jermell) Charlo. Except for the knockdown, Charlo was able to protect himself very well against Canelo’s attack.”
“The only problem was while he was protecting himself, there was no foul play. When I see what, I saw the same thing. If Charlo can stay that untouched (so can Crawford). Floyd, Bivol, where are the mistakes? You have to get that 10 out of 10. You don’t make mistakes,” Thurman said.
It sounds like Thurman never made the Canelo vs. Jermell fight because his recollection of what happened sounds more like fantasy stuff. Canelo beat Jermell Charlo a lot in that fight. He got hit by Canelo with everything but the kitchen sink, so he ran and held on all night. It didn’t help.
Canelo cut off the ring expertly and nailed Jermell with bigger punches than he had tagged Gennadiy Golovkin in their three fights. The lack of offense coming back from Jermell made it target practice for Canelo, who was able to charge with full 100% power on every shot because nothing was coming back.
The movement and tenacity only protected Jermell from being knocked out. But he didn’t shut down Canelo’s offense more than Edgar Berlanga and Jaime Munguia. Canelo was walked down Jermell all night and loaded up on ankles and body shots to win a wide decision.
Crawford could only move around because he didn’t have the strength or size to stand and fight Canelo. He’s not as big or as strong as Jermell, and that guy wasn’t solid enough to be competitive with Canelo.
Of course, Crawford’s focus in fighting Canelo isn’t about winning. He wins just by getting the massive payday fight. It’s all about the money. If Crawford cared about beating Canelo, he would have already moved up to 168 and gained some experience fighting Benavidez, Morrell and Diego Pacheco.
