Christian Mbilli Says He’d Be Surprised If Terence Crawford Defeats Canelo Alvarez

Christian Mbilli is leaning toward Canelo Alvarez defeating Terence Crawford because of his natural size advantage in their fight on September 13th in Las Vegas. The #1 WBC-ranked 168-lb contender Mbilli says he wasn’t “impressed” with Crawford’s last performance against Israil Madrimov, moving up from 147 to 154 last August.

Mbilli Favors Canelo

Mbilli feels that Crawford only has one path to victory, and that’s to win a decision by boxing. In contrast, he thinks Canelo (63-2-2, 39 KOs) can “stop” him or win a decision. Alvarez has more options for victory.

Crawford’s Madrimov Fight “Unimpressive”

“I was not very impressed with Crawford’s last fight [Israil Madrimov]. And the Canelo fight [William Scull], I wasn’t very impressed,” said Mbilli to Fight Hub, talking about Crawford and Canelo’s recent lackluster performances.

“My favorite is Canelo because he’s bigger, and we’re going to see if Crawford is going to use the same strategy as Scull, but with more punches. But Canelo’s weight is bigger, and the weight will make the difference.”

We already know Crawford is going to borrow the game plans from Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Dmitry Bivol by hitting and moving all night. He can’t afford to stand in the pocket against Canelo because he doesn’t possess the power to hold him off.

Canelo blocks punches well and is an excellent counter-puncher. All it’ll take is one good shot from him, and Crawford would be out cold like Amir Khan was when he fought the Mexican star.

Canelo Can Stop Crawford

“I don’t think it’ll be the same with Crawford [fighting like Scull]. It’ll be bad for boxing if Canelo-Crawford makes the same fight. He [Canelo] can knock him out. He can stop him,” said Mbilli.

Crawford is being paid too much by Turki Alalshikh for him to fight like William Scull did against Canelo. But that doesn’t mean that he’s going to be stationary in this fight, because that could be conceding defeat. The 37-year-old Crawford looked weak, old, and vulnerable against Madrimov. He doesn’t have the sturdy frame or the youth to fight Canelo in the trenches for the entire fight. Even a younger version of Crawford couldn’t fight that way against Canelo due to his smaller stature.

A little bit,” said Mbilli when asked if he’d be shocked if Crawford wins.

There are a lot of fans who believe Crawford can win because of what he’s done in the past in the 147, 140, and 135-lb weight divisions. They overlook Bud’s performance against Madrimov, dismissing it as a ‘bad style match-up,’ but you can’t ignore how Crawford’s power failed to carry up from 147 to 154.