‘I Told You So’: De La Hoya’s Glorification of Crawford’s Win Fails to Acknowledge a Close Battle

Promoter Oscar De La Hoya gloated today, giving the old “I told you so” about Canelo Alvarez’s loss to Terence Crawford last Saturday night at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

A Misguided Victory Lap

De La Hoya pointed out that he had predicted that Canelo (63-3-2, 39 KOs) would lose the fight, and he saw it as a one-sided affair with Crawford (42-0, 31 KOs) toying with the superstar all night. It obviously wasn’t that way at all.

Crawford barely won a 12-round unanimous decision and would have lost if Canelo hadn’t gassed out in the final three rounds. I had it scored as a draw.

“I told you so. I predicted the Canelo-Crawford fight like a fortune teller. Canelo’s feet were cemented on the canvas, and he was hitting air,” said promoter Oscar De La Hoya during this week’s Clap Back Thursday’s edition, gloating about Canelo Alvarez’s loss to Terence Crawford last Saturday.

A ‘Tom and Jerry’ Fight

Canelo constantly pressed the attack on Crawford, who clearly followed the William Scull blueprint of circling the ring for three minutes of each round, throwing sporadic punches. Alvarez’s feet were not “cemented to the canvas,” as De La Hoya mistakenly says. He was always attacking Crawford, which required movement due to the fight being a Tom and Jerry-type fight.

Turki Alalshikh wanted blood, smashed faces, and broken. Instead, he got a Jerry-esque performance from Crawford and arguably wasted the $50 million that he paid him.

The ‘Relic’ Style of Crawford

Alalshikh would have gotten more value for the money he spent if he had used Christian Mbilli, David Benavidez, Sebastian Fundora, or Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis as the opponent for Canelo to fight instead of Crawford.

Canelo-Crawford was a very, very boring fight last Saturday. It just shows how promoters can get it wrong by overpaying with an outdated, retro Mayweather style that doesn’t fit in this era, where you must entertain fans or be forgotten. I view Crawford’s style as a relic from the Mayweather era that doesn’t fit in the sport today, where fighters must be all action and have a gimmick to sell themselves.

“He just played with Canelo, made him look silly. Before you start with your [stuff] about Canelo being old, just know that Crawford is older. That’s not an excuse here. [Crawford just] toyed with him. Even Mayweather knew Crawford was going to school him. He put $50,000 on Crawford,” said De La Hoya.

Oscar is overlooking a couple of things.

1. Canelo-Crawford was a close fight. Crawford didn’t toy with or school Alvarez last Saturday. He mostly hit and ran for 12 rounds. It was only in round nine that Bud fought aggressively briefly. The rest of the fight was movement. The scores were 115-113, 115-113, and 116-112. Those are not the kind of scores that one sees in a one-sided fight.
2. Alvarez’s superior resume: Crawford, 37, is two years older than the 35-year-old Canelo, but he has faced none of the elite-level fighters that Alvarez has. Terence didn’t absorb punishment because he was less lethal punchers in the 135, 140, 147, and 154-lb divisions than the ones dealt with at 160, 168, and 175.

Canelo’s best opposition

Gennadiy Golovkin  x 3
Dmitry Bivol
Miguel Cotto
Daniel Jacobs
Shane Mosley
Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Austin Trout
Kermit Cintron
Erislandy Lara
Caleb Plant
Jermell Charlo
Callum Smith
Sergey Kovalev
Jaime Munguia