Danny Garcia says Terence Crawford’s power won’t be enough at 168 for him to have a chance of defeating Canelo Alvarez for his undisputed super middleweight championship on September 12th. Garcia notes that Crawford’s power “didn’t carry up” to 154 in his fight against Israil Madrimov on August 3rd last year. He says that with Crawford now jumping up two weight classes to 168 to fight one of the biggest punchers in the division, Canelo, it’s going to be “tough.”
Crawford’s decision not to move up and take one or two tune-ups at super middleweight to prepare for Alvarez will make his job harder. He chose to play it safe, sit and wait for the giant payday fight rather than risk his hide against one of the contenders to prep. What does that tell you about what Terence’s true goal was for taking the fight with Canelo? He says it’s for legacy, but his actions suggest it’s for the cash.
168 Power Deficit?
“Me assessing Crawford’s last performance when he went up to 154 against Madrimov. I feel like his [Bud] power didn’t carry up that much to 154. So, I feel like 168, that’s tough,” said Danny Garcia to Fighthype, doubting that Terence Crawford will possess enough pop in his shots for him to be a threat to beating Canelo Alvarez on September 12th.
Crawford’s power didn’t rise from 147 to 154 in his last fight. He was never a huge puncher, even at 147, and looked feeble at junior middleweight against Israil Madrimov. Some of that is old age rearing its ugly head. When you’re 40-ish like Crawford, and have only been fighting one time a year since 2020. ‘Little GGG’ Madrimov was knocking chips off Crawford with his right hands, hitting him repeatedly with head-snapping shots. At the end of the fight, Crawford’s face looked like he’d been hit by a truck. In contrast, Madrimov looked like he hadn’t even been in a fight.
One Win to Rule Them All?
“If he pulls this off, you got to put him up there at the top three of all time. That means he [Crawford] unified all four belts in three divisions. Going up all those weight classes to beat Canelo,” said Danny. “If he wins this fight, you’ve got to put him in the top three of all time. But it’s going to be a steep, steep hill to climb. It’s going to be tough.”
You can’t call Crawford “top three of all time” if he pulls off an upset of Canelo because he’s over-the-hill, and is nowhere near his prime at this point in his career. If Crawford beat the 2017 version of Canelo that fought to a controversial draw against Gennady Golovkin in their first fight, you could put him in the top 30 or 40 of all time, but not in the top 3. The then 35-year-old GGG exposed Canelo as being overrated even then. Canelo was 27 at the time.
For Crawford to be in the top 3 of all time, he would need to beat these fighters:
– David Benavidez
– Dmitry Bivol
– David Morrell
– Artur Beterbiev
– Jai Opetaia
You don’t get a top-three spot of all time the cheap way by defeating an old barnacle like Canelo, and then say that you’re among the best? Danny must be slipping if he thinks that all it requires is for Crawford to defeat Canelo to be among the all-time greats. He won’t belong even in the top 50 if he beats this faded old Canelo.
“If he can do it, all praise to him, but I think it will be too much for him. That’s a naturally bigger guy [Canelo]. You’re talking about a guy [Crawford] who started his career at 135, fighting at 168. That’s crazy. Once he starts getting hit with those bombs, he’s going to be like, ‘Whoa,’” said Garcia.
If Crawford moved up to 168 and got a couple of tune-up fights under his belt to show what he can do, he might have a chance of beating Canelo. He should have taken a couple of quick fights against super middleweight contenders, Osleys Iglesias and Christian Mbilli, before fighting Canelo. If Crawford were still in one piece physically after those matches, fans would give him a better shot at winning against Alvarez. What Terence is doing, going up 14 pounds after a lackluster performance in his debut at 154 against Israil Madrimov, it doesn’t look good for him. He’ll still get the $100 million payday, which is probably the only reason he’s campaigned for the Canelo fight. But as far as winning, I don’t see it happening, even against this washed-up version of the Mexican star.
Mobility Lost
“Crawford likes to fight,” said Danny when asked if Terence will be boxing Canelo like he did against Viktor Postol in 2016 at 140. “He can make it easy, but it’s just something that he likes to fight. That’s why he gets hit sometimes. He has to fight a perfect fight, whereas he makes no mistakes. He sticks to the game plan, use his jab, use his angle, and basically make Canelo frustrated. Somehow, absorb his punches and take that pressure.”
Crawford no longer has the same mobility he possessed when he fought Viktor Postol at age 28. Bud is about to turn 38-years-old on September 28. He’s not the mover that he was nearly a decade ago when he fought Postol, and with the weight he’s packing, bulking to the 180s for this fight, he’s not going to be light enough to move much.
Last Updated on 05/12/2025
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