Crawford’s Camp Believes His Style Presents an Unsolvable Puzzle for Canelo

Terence Crawford’s teammate Bernie ‘Tha Boxer’ Davis says Canelo Alvarez will not be able to prepare for Terence’s style because no one fights the way he does. Canelo (63-2-2, 39 KOs) believes he’s fought enough fighters during his long career to know how to navigate Crawford’s (41-0, 31 KOs) style on fight night on September 12th in Las Vegas.

Potential Strategies

Crawford is expected to box Canelo the way Mayweather did, and avoid his powerful shots that he uses to win rounds. The Mexican star’s work rate has dropped in recent fights, but he’s still able to win rounds based on the cleaner, harder shots that he lands. Bud will likely switch stances frequently, hoping to throw Canelo off. It might be a waste of time. Sticking with one stance would be the smarter thing because Alvarez isn’t a newbie who will be thrown off by Crawford’s gimmickry.

“Crawford has the speed and the IQ to counteract anything Alvarez has,” said Bernie Tha Boxer about how Terence Crawford will win to MillCity. “Canelo is sharp. He punches those wide punches to where you’re going to be. Canelo Alvarez is an all-around fighter.”

Crawford has less speed and power than Canelo’s last opponent, William Scull. That guy is faster, younger, bigger, and a better puncher. Alvarez beat him quite easily, taking advantage of his lack of power and aggressiveness to win a wide 12 round unanimous decision last Saturday.

“Bud Crawford is top-tier and an all-around fighter. It’s going to be fireworks on September 12th. Canelo controlled the pace, landed the bigger shots, and he won the fight,” said Davis about Canelo’s fight against William Scull last Saturday night in Riyadh for the undisputed at 168.

The 168lb Question

Terence is a top-tier fighter at 154, but you can’t say that at 168 because he’s chosen not to take a tune-up. It doesn’t matter if he’s top 15 at junior middleweight because he’s going to be fighting at super middleweight. That’s an entirely different situation.

Also, we don’t know how Crawford is after a year out of the ring and a narrow win over Israil Madrimov. The way Crawford looked, he’d struggle against Madrimov in a rematch and would have equal problems with Bakhram Murtazaliev, Vergil Ortiz, Sebastian Fundora, Jorge Garcia Perez, and Janibek Alimkhnuly.

“Canelo looked good. He looked the same. Canelo lives in the gym, and the skills that he has, and attributes that he has are second to none,” said Davis.

Bernie sounds like he’s trying to hype Canelo up so that if and when his fighter, Crawford, loses, he can tell the fans, ‘Bud lost to the best fighter in the sport.’ The reality is different. Canelo is faded and nowhere near the fighter he once was. At this point, Canelo would likely lose to four or five super middleweight contenders.

Replicating the Spence Win?

“He can’t get nobody to prepare for him. We’re going to make him look like sludge,” said Bernie Davis to MillCity Boxing about Canelo Alvarez not being able to get anyone to help him prepare for the Terence Crawford fight on September 12th. “He’s [Crawford] going to box him to death.”

The only fighter Crawford has made to “look like sludge” in the last five years is Errol Spence, and that’s because he was inactive, weight-drained, and just a shell of his former self after his 2019 car crash. He almost lost his last fight to Israil Madrimov, and struggled against Shawn Porter and David Avanesyan.

“Crawford going to get that guy. Crawford is going to mess him up. It’s going to be more shocking than Errol Spence, even though he may not whip him as bad as he whipped Errol Spence. It may not be over devastating like he demoralized Errol Spence, but it’s going to be clear that he’s whipping him.”

It would be interesting if Crawford tried to beat Canelo the way he did Spence, because he would have to stand in the pocket to do that. If Crawford is going to box Canelo the way he did in his last fight against Israil Madrimov, he’s not going to whip him. He might even lose. If Canelo is landing the harder shots in every round, it won’t matter that Terence outlands him with weaker shots. The judges will give more weight to Alvarez’s.