Boxing analyst Tim Bradley says Terence Crawford must use a similar style of combination punching to Dmitry Bivol for him to defeat undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez on September 13th. Hall of Famer Bradley states that Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) needs to attack Canelo (63-2-2, 39 KOs) with combinations.
The Difficulty of Mimicking Bivol
For Crawford to effectively mimic Bivol’s fighting style against Canelo would be difficult. He’s not as big as Bivol. Crawford is a counter-puncher and has never used combination punching to win fights.
Even Canelo’s last opponent, IBF super middleweight champion William Scull, was a better combination puncher than Crawford. Scull appeared afraid to throw combinations due to the punching power of Canelo.
“This isn’t going to be a fight where Crawford is going to run all night because he’s not going to win this fight that way. There are moments where Crawford is going to have to fight this man,” said Tim Bradley on his channel, talking about Terence Crawford needing to mix it up with Canelo Alvarez to win on September 13th.
The A-Side’s Advantage
Crawford is aware that he can’t move all night like he did earlier in his career when he boxed his way to victories over Felix Diaz in 2017 and Viktor Postol in 2016. It’s too big a fight, and Canelo is the A-side in this match. He’s the superstar. Crawford will need to exchange with Alvarez quite a bit for him to win rounds, because moving around like William Scull did on May 3rd, and Erislandy Lara did in 2014, won’t get him the win.
“Back him up and put him on the defense. He’s going to have to do it with combinations, similar to what Bivol was able to do. You’re going to have to do that,” said Bradley about Crawford needing to fight like light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol, who fought Canelo on May 7, 2022.
The Bivol-Crawford Comparison
The problem with Crawford fighting like Bivol is that he’s not him. Bivol, 6’0″, is a lot bigger than the 5’8″ Crawford, and he was much younger at 31 than Bud is now. Crawford turns 38 on September 28th. He’s never been a combination puncher like Bivol, and it’s quite late in his career for him to change his style.
“Crawford is going to win the fight on the back end like all of his fights. He’s going to step up, bite down, and he’s going to have to. Canelo is going to push him. Crawford is going to have to throw and let his hands go like he’s never done before,” said Bradley.
Crawford rallied to pull out the victory in his last fight against WBA junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov on August 3, 2024. Going into the 10th round, the outcome was still in doubt. Crawford went on the attack, pressing Madrimov throughout rounds 10, 11, and 12 to get the 12-round unanimous decision by the scores 115-113, 116-112, and 115-113.
A Beast He Hasn’t Seen
“He hasn’t seen this beast [Canelo] on fight night, but he’s seen a version of this beast for a very long time,” said former welterweight champion Shawn Porter to HitmanSportsMedia, talking about Crawford.
Porter doesn’t give an example of a similar fighter to Canelo that Crawford has fought during his career. From what I’ve seen of Crawford’s past fights, former WBO welterweight champion Jeff Horn is the only fighter that he’s fought who is similar to Alvarez. Horn lacked the power, skills, and size of Canelo.
Last Updated on 08/22/2025
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