Yoenli Hernandez Cites Canelo Alvarez’s Sparring Dominance Over ‘Boots’ Ennis as the Reason for His Eighth-Round Knockout Prediction Against Crawford

Yoenli Hernandez predicts that Canelo Alvarez will knock out Terence Crawford by the eighth round on Saturday night.

The unbeaten middleweight contender, Yoenli, was one of Canelo’s two high-profile starring partners for this camp to help prepare him for Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) on September 13 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

Success Against ‘Boots’ Ennis

The Cuban native Hernandez states that Canelo (63-2-2, 39 KOs) was able to get inside on the other name sparring partner, Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis. He states that ‘Boots’ couldn’t handle some of the things Canelo was doing. Yoenli believes that Canelo got more out of the sparring sessions than Ennis did due to the success he had.

He states that Alvarez was able to keep the fight at short to mid-range where he wanted it to be. For Canelo to have figured out ‘Boots’ Ennis’ style so quickly, and done well against him, it suggests he could potentially do the same with Crawford. Those two fighters are seen as simlar in fighting style.

“My prediction in this one, I only give it an eighth round,” said Yoenli Hernandez to MillCity Boxing, predicting a knockout win for Canelo Alvarez over Terence Crawford.

Canelo knocking out Crawford in the fight would be a bad look for the Nebraska native. There are a lot of fans who believe Crawford is going to win and dominate Canelo in the same way he’s done in the lower weight classes. What gives Canelo a good chance of knocking out Crawford is that he’s not likely to run due to Turki Alalshikh not wanting any Tom and Jerry fights.

Canelo’s Confidence is Justified

“At some point, Boots didn’t know how to handle some of the stuff from Canelo brought to the table in the Sparring session. Canelo found a way to get inside on Boots, and that’s why he benefited more from the Sparring than he did,” said Hernandez.