Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Trainer Stephen Edwards believes Terence Crawford has the size, strength, conditioning and technical skills to move up to 168 and defeat unified super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez.
Edwards believes Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) couldn’t beat David Benavidez, David Morrell, Artur Beterbiev or Dmitri Bivol. Those guys are too big and too technical for the 37-year-old Crawford. But the 34-year-old Canelo (62-2-2, 39 KOs) is starting to show signs of age and is outmatched for Crawford.
Vulnerable Champion
Canelo will turn 35 on July 18 and has failed to knock out his last six opponents. His last knockout came three years ago against Caleb Plant on November 6, 2021.
The Mexican star has not indicated that he will fight Crawford and will not accept the fight unless he feels he can win. His net worth is estimated at $250 million. So whatever money Turki Alalshikh could offer Alvarez wouldn’t entice him to take the Crawford fight unless he wanted to. He already has enough money to live richly for 20 lifetimes, and can continue to make many millions per fight, taking easy opposition.
“Yeah, I think he can get to 168 and fight certain people. Do I think he can fight Benavidez or Morel? No, they are too big, skilled and too tall. That would be a lot to overcome,” Stephen Edwards said Fighthippetalking about Terence Crawford being too small to fight Benavides or Morrell at super middleweight.
“Canelo comes from a lighter weight and is the same height as Crawford. I think Crawford is a little taller. Crawford’s arms are much longer and he has a much better gas tank. I never saw Crawford tired.
“Canelo let guys loose today so when he was on his best run he would have stopped them normally.” Now it releases them because there is no extra pressure in the gas tank. If Budd fought Canelo at 168, Budd would be full of calories. He could eat whatever he wanted at any time of the day,” Edwards said.
Crawford is also getting pretty old at 37, and he almost lost his debut at 154 against Israil Madrimov on August 3rd. He won’t be able to win rounds against Canelo with weak shots against Madrimov. Those shots looked weak compared to when he was fighting at 147, 140 and 135.
The judges will give Canelo rounds against Crawford, even if he’s outmatched. If Canelo’s shots are much harder, he will win the round. Crawford doesn’t hit as hard as Jermell Charlo or Erislandy Lara, and those guys were outmatched for power against Kane.
Genius at work?
“His energy levels would be out of whack.” He will probably step into the ring at 159 or 160 lbs. No need to go in at 168 just because that’s the weight limit. “He’s got to be quick in that fight,” Edwards said of Crawford.
“I told him (Crawford), ‘That fight you had that night (against Victor Postol at 140, eight years ago on July 23, 2016), that’s a fight that could beat Canelo. He kind of smiled. I think Bad is a genius, and sometimes when you’re a genius, you don’t know you’re a genius. He has the ability to adapt in fights.”
The fight against Victor Postol was a long time ago when Crawford was 28 years old. Now 37 years old, he doesn’t look as young, fast or mobile as he did in the fight with Postol. Crawford has aged. So there’s no point in comparing this version of Crawford to the one that fought Postol as an argument for why he’ll beat Canelo. That version of Crawford no longer exists.
It was another person. If he was a monstrous puncher like Artur Beterbiev, it wouldn’t be a big deal that Crawford isn’t as young as he once was. He is not a big puncher and wins his fights with speed, reflexes and boxing skills. It won’t be enough in his current physical condition to beat Canelo, and the judges won’t be doing him any favors.
“I don’t think he can beat guys like Bivol and Beterbiev.” I think that’s too much, but Canelo,” said Edwards. “He’s a great fighter, but my eyes tell me he’s slowing down a bit.” Canelo who fought Berlanga. Three years ago, Canelo would have knocked out Berlanga. It’s not a fight. It is a public execution.
“The fact that he let Berlanga go from a distance.” He let Mungui go the distance. He let Charles go the distance. Movement, conditioning and bud strength. Bud is much stronger than people realize. I’m not saying he’s stronger than Canelo. It’s strong enough. It’s not a weightlifting competition,” Edwards said.
