Shane Mosley says Canelo Alvarez will “easily” beat Terence Crawford in their ‘Fight of the Century’ in September. Mosley believes that Canelo is just “too big” for Crawford (41-0, 31 Kos), who is moving up two divisions for this gift title shot against the golden superstar Alvarez on Netflix.
Bud’s Two-Division Jump
Shane admires Crawford’s talent, but the power and the size that he’ll be giving away against the undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo will be too big a hurdle.
“They’re both great fighters, but Canelo is too big. They’re mistaking him for being just a regular guy at 168, and Crawford being the more talented. That’s not the case. They’re both talented,” said Shane Mosley to the Ring Magazine channel, analyzing the Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford fight on September 13th.
Terence is a poor man’s version of Cuban William Scull. When you take out Scull’s power, blazing hand speed, size, youth, and mobility, you’ve got Crawford. He’s not as physically talented as Scull. We saw how well Canelo dealt with the physical advantages that Scull had over him. He boxed and was cautious.
Canelo-Crawford: Gimmick Fight?
“The only thing is Canelo has him by two divisions. I think Canelo beats him pretty easily, but we’ll see of Terence Crawford does good. Crawford, I’m happy for him. If he can pull it off, great. But my mind’s telling me that Canelo is probably going to beat him,” said Mosley.
Crawford is giving away a lot more than just the natural size against Canelo. He’s also never fought anyone close to the level of competition that Alvarez has fought during his career. Terence’s best name on his resume that wasn’t washed or broken from a car crash is Israil Madrimov. He came close to losing to him.
As long as the judges score the fight correctly, you can be happy for Crawford if he wins. However, it’s a bad statement about the sport that Crawford is being allowed to move up to 168, jump ahead of the contenders, and get a straight title shot against Canelo for his undisputed championship. That confirms that Canelo-Crawford is just a gimmick fight, not a real one. If Crawford had to earn his title shot against Canelo, he’d be weeded out by these contenders: Christian Mbilli, Osley Iglesias, and Diego Pacheco. He would never make it to Canelo.
“I think that he [Crawford] doesn’t need to make it all the way boring, but boring in spots [for him to win]. So, just because he’s moving around and keeping his distance, don’t mean that he’s running,” said Mosley.”So, if he can move and just stay a little bit out of the pocket long enough, then maybe he can win.”
Crawford’s Running Blueprint
Turki Alalshikh will be hopping mad if Crawford chooses to make it boring. He’s paying Terence mega-millions for this fight, and he will expect value for his money. He could have chosen someone younger, bigger, and stronger for Canelo to fight, like Osley Iglesias or Christian Mbilli. He wanted Crawford. So, it’s up to him to show that Turki made the right choice.
It’s not an ideal situation with Crawford pushing 38, coming off a year-long layoff, poor performance, and moving up two weight classes to fight Alvarez at 168. It’s a witches’ brew of things that make for the likelihood of Crawford being overmatched against Canelo and choosing to fight in a safety-first manner.
“I think Canelo is going to win because Crawford is a fighter. He’s a true fighter, a real fighter, but he’s in the wrong weight division,” said Mosley.
Crawford did a lot of running in his fight against Viktor Postol. So, you can’t rule out him turning the fight into a Tom and Jerry type of contest. His trainer, Brian ‘BoMac’ McIntyre, has already said that he wants to use Canelo’s fights against Mayweather and Bivol as the blueprint for Bud to use. Those guys were running a lot of the time, making the fights boring for the fans. Crawford may think he can do that, too, and get lucky with judges enjoying his fast feet.
Last Updated on 07/16/2025
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