Commentator Max Kellerman mentions that Terence Crawford is investigating all the boxes because he has the advantage over the undisputed super -middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez for their September 13 match in Las Vegas.
He mentions that the one area where Terence is missing is size. Canelo (63-2-2, 39 COs) is larger and can be a harder puncher. Kellerman is not sure about it, because he has not yet seen whether Crawford’s power has increased with him who acted for his fight against Canelo at Allegiant Stadium.
The velocity of two p4p kings
“You would suggest that Crawford is because he is the naturally smaller fighter, and I would assume that he would maintain the benefit in this battle,” commentator Max Kellerman said Ring magazine Asked who has the faster hand speed between Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford.
In Crawford’s last battle against Israel Madrimov on August 3, 2024, his hand speed was not extraordinary. The two looked like equal hand speed. In his lead, ten years ago, Crawford had good hand speed, but it was not at the level of fighters from the past period, Floyd Mayweather Jr. Or manny pacquiao. After 17 years as a professional, Crawford’s velocity was on average and not exceptional.
“Both have a sky height Ring IQS. Crawford. There’s a reason why I think Crawford is the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, and Canelo agreed. Crawford is biologically older (turn 38 on September 28, 2025),” says Kellerman.
Lack of opponents with big names
It is impossible to determine how good Crawford is, because his resume does not have the big names needed to place him high on a pound-by-pound list. When he did move to 154, where there were real challenges, he quickly waged the Canelo fight to just one now disputed fight against Madrimov.
If Crawford has stayed at 154 to test himself against the elite fighters in the division, fans and the people who create the pound-by-pound lists will be able to identify whether he is worth being high on the list. Terence lost close to Israel Madrimov close to August 3, 2023 and won by the scores 115-113, 115-113 and 116-112. What would have happened if Crawford stayed to fight against Vergil Ortiz Jr., Bakhram Murtazaliev, Abass Baraou and Sebastian Fundora?
“Canelo had the longer career. He has been fighting since he was a teenager (Alvarez became professional on October 29, 2005, at the age of 15). And there have been signs lately that he may not be the same man as he used to be,” Kellerman said.
Canelo and Crawford both come from a defective performances. Crawford beat WBA junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov on August 3, 2024. In contrast, Canelo defeated IBF super-middleweight champion William Scull with a unanimous 12-round decision in a low output battle for him. Canelo throws only 152 pushing the whole battle. This is an average of 12.67 blows per round.
Kellerman’s Pick: Crawford’s Benefits
“If you look at all the boxes, I’m going to mark Crawford for most of them, if not all. But the reason why Canelo is elected is that he does many things at a very high level, and he is a naturally bigger man,” Kellerman said.
Crawford essentially moves three weight classes to fight in 168 Canelo. Kellerman doesn’t mention it, nor does he point out that Crawford did not prefer not to take a tune-up at Super Middleweight to give himself some experience over the past year when he could have done so.
Canelo is not only the bigger man, he is the more experienced one of the two against higher quality opposition. Crawford’s resume does not have the names that Canelo’s owns.
Is Crawford truly the best?
Once you have passed Israil Madrimov and Yuriorkis Gamboa on Crawford’s resume, there is not much to be seen. The names on Terence’s record were those of older fighters who were at the end of their careers. He fought these fighters at the end of their careers:
– Errol Spence
– Shawn Porter
– Ricky Burns
– Need Brook
– Amir Khan
– yurorkis gamboa
– Raymond Beltran
Last updated on 08/27/2025
