Terence Crawford coach is looking for history while the fighter’s own recent struggle offers a more realistic prospect

Terence Crawford coach Jacqui ‘Red’ Spikes, says Crawford’s skills will enable him to overcome the size of the undisputed super -middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez on September 13.

A defective historical comparison

Spikes uses Sugar Ray Leonard’s victory over Marvin Hagler and Oleksandr Usyk’s victories against larger enemies at heavyweight, because examples for the reason why Crawford (41-0, 31 COs) will overcome his size to defeat Canelo (63-2-2, 39) at the Allegainant Stage in Las Vegas.

“Littler guys with more skills have beaten bigger guys over the years. Sugar Ray Leonard and Marvin Hagler,” said coach Jacqui ‘Red’. Fighting typeAnd his rationale gives why the smaller Terence Crawford Canelo Alvarez will beat their collision on 13 days on September 13.

There are three main differences between Sugar Ray Leonard did to defeat the WBC middleweight champion Marvin Hagler and who does Crawford, and jump up two weight classes to challenge Canelo for his four belts at 168:

1. Age: Leonard was thirty years old when he defeated Hagler with a controversial 12-round decision on April 6, 1987. Crawford is 37 and will turn 38 on September 28. He is much older than Leonard was. Bud is essentially eight years older than Sugar Ray when he fought Marvin for his WBC middleweight belt.
2. Weight class: Sugar Ray moved only one division from 154 to 160 for his collision against Leonard. Although Leonard began his career at 147, he went up to junior middleweight before facing Hagler. He did not move 2 to 3 divisions, as Crawford does in his title challenge against Canelo.
3. Previous performance: In Leonard’s struggle before he faced Hagler, he looked like 24k gold at 154 and defeated Kevin Howard on May 11, 1984, with a ninth round. In contrast, Crawford did not look dominant in his last fight, and made his debut at 154 against Israel Madrimov at 154.

“USYK is a smaller guy. He hit bigger guys with his box. Skills pay the bills,” says Spikes. “It’s just about being prepared, having a good game plan and having the right dog in the race.”

Oleksandr Ulsyk beat two faded British heavyweights, Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury, as well as the flawed Daniel Dubois. In my opinion, those fighters are not at the level of Canelo’s talent and achievement. Alvarez’s resume has a lot more top names than the three fighters. Joshua and Fury’s best career victory is probably a faded Vladimir Klitschko, who was 40 when they fought against him.

‘Madrimov was a difficult style. He did a lot of feints. He did not commit. He was not patient. It is a very different style than Canelo will bring. Madrimov gave us some problems. He came to win. He got prepared, but we overwhelmed the obstacle, ‘says Spikes.

I believe the reason Crawford struggled with Madrimov was:

• Inactivity: Crawford was inactive for 13 months before the Madrimov collision. Terence’s fight before it was against Errol Spence on July 29, 2023. Crawford’s chronic gaps of inactivity began in November 2021 when he fought Shawn Porter. Prior to the fight, Crawford last fought Kell Brook in November 2020.
• Getting older: At 36, Bud begins to show the signs of advanced age. In any sport, it is an era where athletes begin to show serious decline. There are not many fighters still competing at 36. Those who do, can do this with the way their smart promoters manage them.
• Weight jumping: With 154, Crawford showed that he physically beat his ceiling and could not dominate in the junior middleweight division as in the smaller weight classes. I believe that it is logical to assume that if Terence chose to stay at 154, he would have suffered defeats repeatedly and slipped into the parcel if he fought against the top fighters.