McKenna tells Crawford vs. Kanell at 164 lb

Middleweight Aaron McKenna says Terence Crawford would make a better fight for Canelo Alvarez if the bout took place at 164 instead of 168.

(Credit: Mark Robinson/Matchroom)

He sparred with Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) and was impressed by his technical skills and power. However, McKenna thinks the strength and size of unified super middleweight champion Canelo (62-2-2, 39 KOs) would be a problem for Terrence unless he agrees to go a little lower with a proper division.

164 For a fair fight

Canelo probably won’t agree to give Crawford, 37, a handicap because he would be the star of their fight, and there’s no reason to help the smaller fighter to give him an advantage. Crawford has talked about wanting to move up to super middleweight to challenge Canelo for his three titles for “legacy” purposes, but not fighting at the full weight of 168 pounds hurts him.

If Crawford wants a fight with Canelo enough, he will agree to go up to 168 to challenge him. It would be pointless for him to expect to be given a handicap.

“Canelo is the strongest fighter in the world at 168 in that weight. “If she was a bantamweight, I think it would be a really good fight at 164,” said Aaron McKenna Sean Zittel about Terence Crawford having more of a chance to beat Canelo Alvarez if they handicap him due to the contest being held four pounds under the 168-pound limit.

“Crawford definitely has the skills to give him a lot of trouble, and he has the timing and range as well.” Only if he can withstand Canelo’s strength, but I think it would be a very good fight. 168, yes, but I think it would be even better if the catch weight was more on the line.

“He’s hard to catch. You have to be calculated. You can’t fall. You can’t overdo it. It has to be a perfect sparring session,” McKenna said of Crawford.