Terence Crawford is stubbornly secretive about the tactics he will use for his potential fight against unified three-belt super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez in 2025.
Entertainment, not boxing
Crawford is thirst for the Canelo fight, discuss the money and how it would enhance his legacy. Obviously, it would fit the classification as “entertainment” but NOT as boxing because Crawford is too small and underpowered to move up two divisions from 154 to 168 to challenge Canelo.
In Crawford’s recent debut at junior middleweight against WBA champion Israil Madrimov on August 3, we saw that his power did not pick up from the 147 division. If Crawford can’t even punch at 154, how does he fare against Canelo at 168? Again, a fight between them is “entertainment”, a “Show,” but not boxing.
In the real world, you move up in weight, fight the killers in the weight class and EARN the title shot. It’s not given to you in a handout for what you’ve done against lesser fighters in other weight classes. Crawford should go to 168 and beat these five:
- Osley Iglesias
- David Benavidez
- David Morrell
- Christian Mbilli
- Caleb Plant
Crawford’s chances of getting through these five sharks to the Canelo payday are non-existent. It doesn’t happen. He would be picked up by the first top predator he faced, Iglesias, and forced to return from where he came at 154.
His Honor Turki Alalshikh says he will try to make the fight between superstar Canelo (62-2-2, 39 KOs) and junior middleweight champion Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) next year.
It will cost a fortune to make that matchup, as Canelo, 34, resisted the idea of facing Crawford as a bleak no-win situation. If Canelo knocks out Crawford, he’s going to get slammed for picking an old, small and weak 37-year-old fighter who never fought at 168 or 160.
“I don’t want to go in there and say I’m going to box him. When I get in the ring, I might stay in front of him. I don’t want to say I’m going to stay in front of him when I might have to box him,” Terence Crawford told Carl Froch’s YouTube channel, refusing to reveal his game plan for a fight against Canelo Alvarez in 2025. .
“I’m the type of fighter who makes adjustments in the air. Throughout my career, I do what it takes to get the job done,” Crawford said. “That’s what we’re in the game for, to leave a legacy.”
The Mayweather Blueprint
From what Crawford says, he’s going to try to follow the Floyd Mayweather Jr. blueprint by boxing and moving against Canelo all night to make it boring. In the end, it won’t be “entertainment” for the fans. It will be a rip-off, and people will be outraged that they wasted their money on this circus-level event.
There is absolutely NO chance in the world that Crawford is going to stand up and fight Canelo because his chances of success are minimal. He was a counter puncher and a hitter throughout his career. He’s not going to stray from that approach against Canelo and get blown into the stratosphere.
