Terence Crawford’s trainer, Brian ‘BoMac’ McIntyre, says he will fight the Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Dmitry Bivol fights carefully if facing Bud Canelo Alvarez to use tactics from them to defeat the Mexican superstar.
Imitating the Masters
BoMac will use the Mayweather and Bivol fights for ideas to create a blueprint for Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) to follow to defeat unified super middleweight champion Canelo (61-2-2, 39 KOs). It will be hit-and-run by Crawford for 12 rounds. Repeating Bivol and Mayweather’s style for Canelo will make it boring for the fans on PPV. Many will be angry and feel ripped off if Crawford doesn’t stand up and fight to make it entertaining. Crawford’s last fight against Israil Madrimov was a chess match and not exciting to watch.
It’s still doubtful that Crawford will be able to fight Canelo before he retires, but it’s good to know how he plans to fight him. It will be a copy of Mayweather and Bivol. The fight might not be entertaining for fans if Crawford connects and then backs off three steps like Floyd did, but the approach could work for him to win a decision.
Mayweather fought the 22-year-old Canelo in 2013 at a catchweight of 152 pounds and fought much like Shakur Stevenson does now. Floyd would land a jab and then step back two to three feet to avoid his attempts to fire back.
He frustrated Canelo by using his speed to connect with single shots and retreated to safety. It was like watching a game. When Canelo would get close, Mayweather tied him up.
The WBA light heavyweight champion Bivol used a similar style to Floyd, but with less recoil and more power punching. He had the size over Canelo, so he didn’t have to completely use Mayweather’s fighting style, but it was still similar.
A fight for Crawford’s legacy, not entertainment
“He made him move his feet. If the fight ever materializes, that’s the fight I’ll go back and watch,” trainer BoMac McIntyre told the Luke Thomas. YouTube channel about his study of the Canelo-Bivol fight if Terence Crawford gets the fight against Canelo Alvarez. “I will also look at Mayweather (against Canelo).
“He told me the same thing he told the world. “This is the fight I want (Canelo). I want to put a stamp on my legacy, and I want to go out on top,’” BoMac on Crawford wanting Canelo Alvarez for legacy purposes.
If you’re Canelo, you have a decision to make about the Crawford fight, as BoMac has now let the fans know how he plans to put together a match plan. This will put Canelo in a situation where he will be forced to solve a style he is 0-2 against, and it won’t be easy. Crawford will move like crazy after landing and pin Canelo as he closes the distance.
It’s a negative situation for Canelo because he’ll be dealing with a bigger version of Mayweather or Shakur Stevenson, and it won’t be a real fight the way he likes it. It would be cat and mouse. Assuming Canelo wins, he will not receive credit. This is a given. It would be a fight just for money and to get the attention of the boxing world.
It would be a fight solely for Crawford, who receives a massive retirement paycheck and would emerge victorious even if he loses. All Crawford has to do is make Canelo struggle to beat him, and he’ll be hailed as the winner afterward.
Fans will mock Canelo and tarnish his legacy. It would be the same if Crawford were to fight the much smaller lightweight Gervonta Davis and struggle to beat him. Crawford would get no credit for beating him, and if it was a tough fight, he would be laughed at.
Crawford’s performance against Madrimov
“I give him an A -,” Bomac said when asked for a grade for Crawford’s fight against WBA junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov on Aug. 3. “He worked his tail off for that fight, and Madrimov didn’t do anything we thought he was going to do.”
Fans didn’t give Crawford an A grade for his fight against Madrimov. Crawford took a lot of right hands and looked his age. He won the fight by a 12-round decision, but his performance showed that he is not the same fighter at 154 that he was at 147, 140 and 135. Fans gave Crawford a C grade, and some considered it a D performance.
“He used his jab a lot, and he tried to get Madrimov to connect with him a little bit more, which Madrimov really wouldn’t do,” BoMac said. “I asked him (Crawford) if he was strong, and he said he was physically strong, but his punch had no punch. I think at 154 Bud can do very, very well.”
Madrimov landed a lot of heavy right hands that snapped Crawford’s head back, and they looked pretty powerful. The punches were hard enough to keep Crawford from fighting aggressively like he did when he fought Errol Spence at 147 in his previous clash.
“That right hand he threw, I didn’t think he would throw it that straight,” BoMac said of Madrimov. “We thought it was going to feel like the way GGG throws it. So it surprised me. You can’t make too much of it because once he realized he could land it, he just kept throwing it,” BoMac on the rights Madrimov hit Crawford with.
