Teddy Atlas: Crawford’s Secret Weapon for Canelo

Teddy Atlas believes that Terence Crawford has got that Sugar Ray Leonard element to his game that will enable him to move up to 168 to defeat undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez on September 13th.

Atlas views Crawford as “special,” and he thinks that he’s catching the 35-year-old Canelo (63-2-2, 39 KOs) at the right time. Alvarez has begun to show his age in his last three fights, and he questions whether the money he’s made has taken away his desire. Rich with a net worth estimated at $300 million, it may have eliminated the ambition that Canelo once had.

Atlas Hypes Crawford’s Genius

“I just think Crawford is really special. I think Canelo is really good. I think Crawford is special. I know he hasn’t fought that resume that everyone wants. But you have that ingredient, I think he has it,” said Teddy Atlas on his YouTube channel, The Fight, previewing Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford on September 12th.

Crawford doesn’t have the resume to show that he’s special, and he clearly doesn’t belong fighting at 168, even against this version of 35-year-old Canelo. If the Nebraska native Crawford believed in himself, he would have fought twice at super middleweight in the last year to get acclimated to the division, make money, and show fans that he’s capable of beating the best in that division. It’s evident that if you put Crawford in the ring with the likes of David Benavidez, David Morrell, or Osleys Iglesias, he’d be no match for them. He’s too small, old, and inactive. Four fights in five years for Crawford. What does that tell you?

“I know he didn’t have a great performance when he moved up to 154, but he was fighting a very good fighter, a guy who fought a very difficult style in a weight class that was foreign to him, and we had to give him a minute,” said Atlas about Crawford’s lackluster effort against Israil Madrimov at junior middleweight last August. “Nobody wants to give anyone a minute in this business. You’re supposed to be great, and you got to be great every minute.”

Crawford’s poor performance wasn’t about him not being acclimated to the 154-lb division. You could see his age, and he had reached a ceiling in his ability to fight. Terence had started his career at 135 and was primarily known as a counter-puncher.

When he moved up to 147, you could see that was as high as he could go with his wiry frame and dominate against the lesser opposition. But when Crawford moved to 154, he didn’t have the power, youth, or the frame to tangle with the best in that weight class. That’s why he hasn’t fought in a year after his questionable decision over Madrimov. He knows he’d lose if he took on killers 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 greatness. The greatness is within Crawford. There’s something about just like Sugar Ray Leonard had that something about him when he had to be a junkyard dog. When the fight was first mentioned, I picked him. Now, it’s a little more fashionable.”

Atlas is going a little overboard with his praise of Crawford, comparing him to the great Sugar Ray Leonard. He’s getting carried away with his glazing. Terence only has one notable win on his 17-year resume, Israil Madrimov, and that was a razor-close 12-round decision that he could have lost.

Terence’s victory over Errol Spence is meaningless because he was a shell of his former self after his car crash in 2019 in Dallas. It’s not just the car crash. Spence had dealt with eye injuries, weight issues from ballooning up in between fights, and he’d taken a lot of punishment in his fights.

Canelo: Age or Money?

“Now, it’s a little easier for people to say, ‘Oh, I can see Crawford winning,’ and why? Canelo is either old or slow, or here’s another one. He’s made so much money that the urgency isn’t there. The fire isn’t there,” said Atlas.

Teddy hits a couple of good points here about Canelo. The witches brew of a long career, punishment taken in many wars, and his $300 million fortune has sapped almost everything out of the 35-year-old Alvarez. He’s got very little left of his former self going into this match against an almost equally washed Crawford.