The decline of Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford’s visible aging can play a major role in their superfight on September 13 at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Last performances tell a grim story
Turki Alalshikh has invested a lot of money in this game because he believes that the outdated greats will turn on in what he says is “the struggle of the century”. Based on their last performances, we may not get it. Alalshikh expects greatness, but it can be too late in the game for these two outdated warriors to perform anywhere near what they did 3000+ years ago.
Now they both live on their achievements in the past. Crawford looked so weak and old in his last fight on 154 that he would not have beaten one of the big four in the division.
The undisputed super-middleweight champion Canelo (63-2-2, 39 COs) looked like the shell of the fighter he was once in his last fight against William Scull on May 3, 2024. He won, but his production was anemic and showed little interest in attacking Scull.
Why Crawford Canelo’s Kryptonite is
‘Crawford is perhaps the Kryptonite For Saul Alvarez. I think if he were to fight Saul Alvarez, it’s the right time to fight against him now. We see elements of decline in Saul Alvarez, ”said commentator Simon Jordan Talksport Boxing About Canelo Alvarez. “I believe Crawford will beat Saul Alvarez.”
Fans would have a clearer picture of whether Crawford (37) could be the ‘Kryptonite’ for Canelo if Nebraska native Nebraska chose to stay busy for the past 483 days, and fought once or twice at 168 to show what he could do in this weight class.
As it is, we just know that Crawford is moving two weight classes, on September 28, to turn 38 years old, and that he achieved a close victory on May 3, 2024.
Is it truly a struggle of the century?
If we continue to continue how well Crawford looked like Welterweight against Errol Spence, it makes sense to choose him over Alvarez. However, the Madrimov fight showed that the power of Crawford did not transfer, and he got older, after sitting out of the ring for a year after his victory over Spence. He aged in that year. Crawford was not as young against Madrimov as he was against Spence on July 29, 2023 279 days before.
“He is trying to reach the unattainable against Canelo Alvarez. Can he do that? I think he can, ‘said commentator Spencer Oliver about Crawford. “I think this man creates history. Terence Crawford is so good. His best weight is on welter weight. ‘
Crawford did not look too impressive in his last battle, and pushed out by the more powerful WBA Junior Middle Weight Champion Madrimov. Madrimov landed the harder bumps in that battle, and he did the backup. Madrimov is not as big as Canelo or so strong.
Punch statistics tell the story
- Terence Crawford: 95 of 433 for 22% connection rate
- Israil Madrimov: 84 of 275 for 31%
What we don’t know is whether Canelo can fight as hard as Madrimov did to push Terence as he did. Canelo has not shown major endurance in his fighting since his match against the WBA lightweight champion Dmitri Biblical on May 7, 2022.
Last updated on 08/29/2025
