Trainer Abel Sanchez says he views the Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford clash as a “ridiculous fight” because Bud is “too small” to win when they meet in September.
Sanchez thinks Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) will be competitive in the early rounds, but then turn into a “sparring session with Canelo punching holes in the aging Nebraska native. Canelo’s size and power will overwhelm Crawford, and the match will turn into a rout. Terence has everything going against him in this fight:
- Old
- Small
- Inactive
- No experience at 168
- Greed
I don’t see why Turki doesn’t force Crawford to walk across a bed of hot coals barefoot to earn the Canelo fight by fighting David Benavidez, David Morrell, and Osleys Iglesias. Is it asking too much for Terence to suffer a little to get that mega-payday?
“It’s a ridiculous fight. I think Crawford is too small. Canelo, in my opinion, is the face of boxing right now,” said trainer Abel Sanchez to Fight Hub TV when asked about his thoughts on Terence Crawford going up from 154 to 168 to challenge WBA, WBC, and WBO super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez for his titles on September 13th.
Many fans view the Canelo-Crawford fight as a circus-level one with the focus being junk-food entertainment for fans with nothing lasting about it. Crawford isn’t going to stay at 168. He’s either going to retire with the loot that he gets for the fight or return to 154 and target someone beatable like Sebastian Fundora or a rematch with Errol Spence.
The Brook Comparison
“Look at his resume. I think it’s a good fight for a little while. Crawford’s hand speed. Just like when Golovkin fought Kell Brook. The hand speed of Crawford. As the fight goes on, Canelo will start pounding on him. The fight ends somewhere between the ninth and the twelfth round,” said Abel.
The fight might not even last until the championship rounds before Canelo gets to the soon-to-be 38-year-old Crawford to knock him out. You have to remember that Terence will be coming off a year-long layoff, moving up two divisions after a poor showing in his debut at 154, and another year older, with him looking 40-ish.
Green Ambitions
Also, Crawford is fitting for the wrong reasons. This is all about that green stuff. If it was really about legacy, Bud would move up to 168 and get his feet wet taking on one of The Big Four: David Morrell, Diego Pacheco, David Benavidez, or Osleys Iglesias.
Terence just wants the cash, just like many of the other fighters in the sport, but he’s not willing to risk his soft hide by moving up to earn the fight the way past greats did. What he’s doing has nothing to do with sports. He’s just having the fight given to him for just showing up for a job that he lacks the qualifications for.
“Absolutely,” said Abel when asked if he thinks the size of Canelo will enable him to stop Crawford. “I think anything Canelo hits him with is going to hurt him. He won’t be able to catch him early because, like I said, the hand speed and foot speed, and Crawford is a heck of a fighter at his own fight.”
Canelo will initially have a difficult time getting to Crawford because he’ll be jabbing, throwing single shots, holding, and moving to keep him from landing. Crawford won’t be able to do that for 12 rounds without getting caught by Canelo. Also, the judges aren’t going to give Crawford many rounds when they see that he’s fighting negatively with his holding, jabbing, and moving. You don’t beat Canelo fighting like that. We saw Erislandy Lara try it, and the judges didn’t fall for the spoiling tactics. If you want to fight the superstar Canelo, you have to fight him in the trenches because the judges aren’t going to give you a cheap win.
Size Disadvantage
“154 when he fought Madrimov in his last fight showed us the weight makes a difference. I don’t care how much weight he [Terence] gains or how much he does to try to get up to that level at 168, it’s going to make a difference.
“It’s a 90 to 95-5 chance of Crawford winning unless Canelo grows to be 100 years old. It’s not taking anything away from Crawford, but Crawford at that weight is just not going to be competitive. It’ll be competitive for a little while just as Canelo has shown in all of his fights. By the time it comes fifth or sixth round comes about, it’s a sparring session for him. Everybody he’s fought lately except for Bivol with him being bigger than Canelo now,” said Sanchez.
Abel is right. Crawford’s ONLY chance of winning the fight is if Canelo has aged overnight since his last fight against Edgar Berlanga because if he’s still 75% of what he was in that fight after he destroys William Scull on May 3rd, he’s going to dominate the smaller, older, and weaker Bud Crawford. He’ll walk the Omaha, Nebraska native down just like Gennadiy Golovkin did against Kell Brook in 2016 and beat him into submission.
The only difference is that Canelo won’t look as limited as GGG did against Brook. Canelo will perform much better against Crawford than Golovkin did in his fight against Kell because he’s better skilled and has faster hands. Golovkin looked terrible against Brook, and the only reason he won is due to the eye injury Kell suffered. He was on his way to beating him before he got hurt.
Last Updated on 04/04/2025
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