Trainer Stephen Edwards believes that 37-year-old junior middleweight Terence Crawford can move up two divisions and give Canelo Alvarez 168 with his move. He says that Crawford can defeat Canelo if he can move like he did when he fought Viktor Postol in 2016, which is physically impossible without a full function. time machine.
Edwards feels Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) would be at a “comfortable” weight at 168, ready to move like he did when he was considerably younger and lighter against the leaner and lighter Postol. He argues that Crawford can beat Canelo if he strikes on the move like he did against Postol.
Edwards is a classic example of a Crawford fan who feels he is infallible, can beat anyone with movement, and has an offense limited to punts. These Crawford fans don’t want to accept that he’s getting old, he’s reached his ceiling at 154, and he lost his nerve to fight the top guys during his bad experience against Israil Madrimov.
Can Crawford find his old 2016 legs?
To back up his claim, Edwards comments on a clip of Crawford moving around the ring for nearly a minute against Postol before dropping him with a single punch in what appears to be a flash knockdown.
Crawford hasn’t moved like this in years, and showed little mobility in his recent fight in his 154 debut against WBA junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov on August 3rd.
In that fight, Crawford ate hard right hands from Madrimov all night and narrowed it down to a 12-round unanimous decision that easily could have gone the other way. Edwards says the reason Crawford doesn’t move anymore is because he didn’t have to.
I’m not sure that’s the reality. It looked more like age and inactivity, after putting away Crawford’s age. He wasn’t stationary on purpose in that fight because he was hit harder than he had ever been, and the fight came down to the last three rounds.
Even if Crawford tried to fight like he did eight years ago when he beat Postol, he couldn’t. He doesn’t move for 12 rounds like that, especially if he bulked up to fight at 168 against Canelo.
Stephen believes that Canelo may choose to fight Crawford. However, this could be wishful thinking. If Canelo sees the old clip of Terence’s fight against Postol, it is doubtful that he will fight because, at 34 years old, he does not want to fight a runner. Canelo doesn’t fight guys who move a lot because he doesn’t like dealing with all the movement at his age.
Crawford himself would not fight someone who had a nightmarish style for him like David Benavidez because he would have no chance of winning.
Also, this would be a winless match-up for Canelo, where he would get no credit for beating Crawford, and would be criticized for the rest of his career if he fought to win or lose. It would be the same situation for Crawford if he fought Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis and made himself look bad in a win or if he lost.
Not surprisingly, Crawford has shown no interest in fighting Boots because there is nothing to gain in that fight and everything to lose. Crawford is more popular than Boots. He would get everything from the party. Canelo is much more popular than Crawford, who is known only to hardcore fans.
Who will meet Canelo’s $150M price tag?
Canelo has already said he won’t take the fight with Crawford. So, it’s a little pointless to fuss over it unless someone meets the Mexican star’s $150 million asking price. He wants that kind of money for the Crawford fight, and there is nobody on earth willing to pay that kind of money.
What Crawford should do is forget about Canelo and either fight the guys at 154 who are willing to face him or retire.
You see how much Crawford punched in the movement, boxed and was simultaneously defensively responsible …. this fight allows me to know that he can fight a style that gives Canelo fits. Absolute fits. If he is not cut, he will leave the ATG Canelo.
– Stephen Edwards (@BreadmanBoxing) October 24, 2024
