Shane Mosley says it’s going to be difficult for Terence Crawford to pull off a win against undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez on September 13th due to him not moving up to get a couple of fights in that weight class.
Mosley noted that when he moved up from 147 to 154 during his career, he was slower and lacked the speed that he previously had. He says Canelo told him that he felt he was better at 147 after beating him at 154 in 2012.
Canelo had sparred with Mosley in the past when he was fighting at 147, and he felt he was quicker when he was lighter. Crawford had one fight at 154 and didn’t impress against Israil Madrimov last August. Now, he’s moving up two divisions to face Canelo at 168 after sitting out of the ring for 13 months.
Mosley says Jermell Charlo told him that when he moved up from 154 to 168 to fight Canelo in 2023, he felt slower than he’d been.
Crawford’s Tune-Up Missed Opportunity
“168, you need some time to be there. If you haven’t fought one or two times there where we can kind of see and measure, I don’t know,” said Shane Mosley to Fighthype about Terence Crawford failing to get some experience at 168 to prepare him for fighting Canelo Alvarez.
Crawford should have taken two quick tune-ups at 168 to prepare himself for Canelo. He had an entire year to sit and wait for the Alvarez fight. So, there was plenty of time for Terence to fight the likes of Caleb Plant, Diego Pacheco, and Bektemir Melikuziev.
Crawford was probably afraid of losing, and then having Turki Alalshikh change his mind about wanting to use him as the B-side opponent for Canelo to fight in September. It’s believed that Crawford is one of Turki’s favorite fighters. But if he were to lose in one or two of his tune-up fights at 168, maybe Crawford would no longer be on Turki’s favorites list.
Weight Gain Slows Crawford, Mosley Notes
“Jermell Charlo was telling Crawford, ‘When you move to 168, you’re going to slow down. You’re not going to be fast. You’re going to be slow. You’re not going to be able to move as much. It’s going to feel different. You’re going to get tired quicker because you have extra weight. So, you have to deal with that. Being that it’s the first time you’re going up to that weight class, it could be a problem.”
Crawford looked slower, just moving up to 154. You can only imagine how much slower he’ll be moving up to 168, moving all that extra weight around the ring all night against the big-punching Canelo.
Former undisputed junior middleweight champion Jermell was slower when he moved up to 154, and he was a naturally bigger fighter than Crawford. He didn’t have to put on as much weight, but it still slowed him down, and he wound up losing a wide decision to Canelo.
“This is going to be you’re first fight at 168. You’ve been at 154 one time. You’ve been at 147 [from 2018 to 2023]. 154 one time, and then you’re going to 168. It’s kind of hard,” said Mosley.
What Mosley is leaving out is that Crawford didn’t look spectacular in his one fight at 154 against Israil Madrimov. Terence won the fight, but it was very close, and he did not distinguish himself in the division. That performance showed that Crawford wouldn’t be able to scoop up all the belts at 154 like he’d done at 140 and 147.
If Crawford had stayed in that weight class, he might have been beaten by the contenders. There are three or four in the division that would have been a nightmare for the aging Crawford.
Last Updated on 07/02/2025
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