Corridor of Famer and ESPN boxing analyst Timothy Bradley Jnr favors Terence Crawford in a matchup with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.
“Everybody retains speaking concerning the weight,” Bradley stated – and certainly, Crawford solely just lately left welterweight for 154lbs, whereas Alvarez has fought at 168lbs since late 2020. “‘Oh, he gonna knock him out. …’ When the hell was the final time Canelo knocked anyone out?”
It has been some time. Alvarez final scored a stoppage towards Caleb Plant in November 2021. Since then, he has didn’t knock out established foes Dmitry Bivol (in a loss) and a 40-year-old Gennady Golovkin. However he additionally has gone the gap with opponents considered nowhere close to his talent degree, corresponding to John Ryder, Jaime Munguia and Edgar Berlanga. Jermell Charlo, naturally a junior middleweight, additionally went the gap with Canelo – although he was not remotely aggressive with the tremendous middleweight king.
“Y’all can stop with that, ‘He’s gonna knock Crawford out.’ Come on, man,” Bradley stated. “Didn’t we simply see anyone [Oleksandr Usyk] battle a man [Tyson Fury[ who was – quote, unquote – 50 pounds heavier? Canelo’s the same height [as Crawford]. … He’s not a pure 168lbs!
“[Usyk] is a superb fighter! Completely! However you understand who else is a superb one, is Crawford. The nice ones know how you can determine it out.”
Bradley highlighted Crawford’s 74in attain – three and a half longer than Canelo’s – and his capacity to scale back opponents’ output together with his counterpunching. Alvarez is already a low-output fighter. Bradley thinks Crawford can win a call by working from distance, utilizing straight pictures in-between Alvarez’s looping hooks and tiring Canelo out down the stretch.
“Don’t go working away from the battle now, Canelo,” Bradley stated, referring to the unified tremendous middleweight titleholder’s obvious avoidance of David Benavidez. Imitating Canelo’s higher-pitched voice, Bradley stated, “Keep in mind what you stated: ‘Simple battle, straightforward battle, straightforward battle, straightforward battle!’”
Although a cluster of analytical boxing minds share Bradley’s opinion, most within the battle sport consider the scale and energy distinction is simply too nice for Crawford to impose his abilities.
Bradley, identified for his robust factors of view, is assured in his unpopular take: “I’m gonna get again to my Haterade,” he introduced in direction of the top of the video, sipping his drink. “You already know.”
Whether or not the boxing world will get to know what a Canelo-Crawford matchup would appear to be as much as Alvarez.
Owen Lewis is a former intern at Defector media and writes and edits for BoxingScene. His beats are tennis, boxing, books, journey and anything that satisfies his meager consideration span. He’s on Bluesky.
