Teddy Atlas believes Terence Crawford got it Sugar Ray Leonard Element to his game that will enable him to move to 168 to defeat the undisputed super -middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez on September 13.
Atlas regards Crawford as ‘special’, and he thinks he is catching the 35-year-old Canelo (63-2-2, 39 COs) at the right time. Alvarez began to show his age in his last three battles, questioning whether the money he earned took away his desire. It is rich in a net worth estimated at $ 300 million, and it may have eliminated the ambition that Canelo once had.
Atlas hypes crawford’s genius
“I just think Crawford is very special. I think Canelo is really good. I think Crawford is special. I know he didn’t fight the resume that everyone wants. But you have that ingredient, I think he has it, ‘says Teddy Atlas on his Youtube Channel, The Fight, who previews Terence Crawford on September 12 Canelo Alvarez.
Crawford does not have the resume to show that he is special, and he clearly does not fight on 168, not even against this version of the 35-year-old Canelo. If Nebraska native Crawford had believed in himself, he would have fought twice against Super Middleweight over the past year to adapt to the division, make money and show fans that he was able to beat the best in that section. Obviously, if your Crawford puts in the ring like David benavidez, David Morrell, or Osleys Iglesias, he would be no match for them. He is too small, old and inactive. Four fights in five years for Crawford. What does this tell you?
“I know he didn’t have a good performance when he moved up to 154, but he was fighting a very good fighter, a man who fought a very difficult style in a weight class that was strange to him, and we had to give him a minute,” Atlas said the last August of Crawford. “Nobody wants to give anyone a moment in this business. You are supposed to be wonderful, and you have to be wonderful every minute. ‘
Crawford’s poor performance was not about not being tackled at the 154-pound division. You could see his age, and he reached a ceiling in his power to fight. Terence began his career at 135 and was mainly known as a counter-puncher.
When he moved to 147, you could see that it was as high as he could go with his fraudulent frame and dominate against the lesser opposition. But when Crawford moved to 154, he did not have the power, youth or the frame to disappear with the best in that weight class. Therefore, he did not fight a year after his questionable decision on Madrimov. He knows he would lose if he adopted murderers like Vergil Ortiz Jr., Sebastian Fundora, Tim Tszyu and Bakhram Murtazaliev.
Leonard comparison: Too much?
“He (Crawford) did what he had to do, but I still saw the grandeur. The greatness is within Crawford. There’s something left Just like Sugar Ray Leonard It had something about him when he had to be a junk dog. When the fight was first mentioned, I chose him. Now, it’s a little more fashionable. “
Atlas goes a bit overboard with his praise for Crawford and compares him to the Great Sugar Ray Leonard. He is carried away with his glass. Terence has only a significant victory on his 17-year-old resume, Israil Madrimov, and it was a razor-Naby decision he could have lost.
Terence’s victory over Errol Spence is meaningless because he was a shell from his former self after his car accident in 2019 in Dallas. It’s not just the car accident. Spence had eye injuries, weight issues of between fights, and he took a lot of punishment in his fights.
Canelo: Age or money?
“Now, it’s a little easier for people to say,” Ah, I can see that Crawford wins, “and why? Canelo is old or slow, or here is another. He earned so much money that the urgency is not there. The fire is not there, ‘says Atlas.
Teddy hits some good points here about Canelo. The witches brew of a long career, punishment in many wars, and his $ 300 million fortune moved almost everything from 35-year-old Alvarez. He has very little left of his former self that goes against an almost equally washed Crawford in this match.
Last updated on 05/22/2025
