Promoter Bob Arum says he won’t count out his former fighter Terence Crawford in a title challenge against WBA/WBC/WBO super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez if they meet in September in a 12-round mega-fight .
Switch-Hitting Threat
Arum thinks Crawford’s (37-year-old, 39 KOs) ability to switch hits will trouble Canelo (62-2-2, 39 KOs) as well as Errol Spence when they fight in 2023. Errol was outmatched against Crawford, he looked sluggish, drained, and nowhere near the fighter he was in 2018.
Crawford’s southpaw to Canelo probably did not confuse the Mexican star because he has fought many left-handed fighters and has never had any problems with them. If Bud becomes left-handed, it has no impact on the fight unless he takes heavy hits while in a different stance.
The real problem that Arum does not mention is that Crawford is too old, small and weak to be fighting at 168. He is probably hoping to gain 14 lbs and duplicate what Floyd Mayweather Jr. did. he did against a 22-year-old Canelo. in 2013.
If Mayweather and Canelo were to fight now, the version of Floyd who beat Canelo would be eliminated. Alvarez is much stronger and more experienced now, and would never have agreed to a catchweight of 152 lbs. Floyd just threw jabs, single right hands, holds and moves all night.
That style wouldn’t work now because Canelo would land the harder shots and be seen as the aggressor, forcing Floyd to escape. Crawford will do the same because he is too old and weak to stand and trade with Canelo. FYI, Terence turns 38 in September.
“I wouldn’t count Crawford in any fight because he has a unique talent; he’s a great boxer-puncher, and he’s totally ambidextrous,” said Bob Arum to Fighthype when asked about Terence Crawford’s chances against Canelo Alvarez.
“He drives his opponent crazy because they’re training to fight a right-handed fighter, and he ends up fighting a left-hander. That’s what happened to Errol (when he fought Crawford on June 29, 2023). Spence trained for a right handed fighter and all he saw was a left handed fighter.
“I think what Crawford is looking for is Manny Pacquiao versus Oscar De La Hoya,” Arum said of what kind of upset Terence is looking for against Canelo.
No catchweight
It was a different situation when Oscar De La Hoya fought Manny Pacquiao in 2008. De La Hoya was a washed-up part-time fighter at that point in his career, and had been fighting at junior middleweight. He agreed to fight Pacquiao at a catchweight of 145 and then took off too much weight with a diet. He looked terrible, making weight, and it showed in the fight.
Canelo won’t diet or cut weight for Crawford, and he’s not a part-time fighter like Oscar was. If Crawford thinks Canelo will be another De La Hoya, he’s wrong. They are two different people.
Canelo stays in shape, and won’t agree to give Bud a catchweight handicap like De La Hoya did with Pacquiao. Oscar would never have done that because he was the “Golden Boy”, the superstar in that fight, and he could have insisted that Pacquiao move up to 154 to fight. This was a weird situation where De La Hoya bent over backwards to give Manny a better chance to even the playing field. By doing so, he became weak and lost.
