Promoter Bob Arum says he’s not counting out his former fighter Terence Crawford in a title challenge against WBA/WBC/WBO super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez if they meet this September in a 12-round mega-fight.
Switch-Hitting Threat
Arum feels that Crawford’s (37-year-old, 39 KOs) ability to switch hits will trouble Canelo (62-2-2, 39 KOs), just as it did Errol Spence when they fought in 2023. Errol was overmatched against Crawford, looking slow, drained, and nowhere near the fighter he’d been in 2018.
Crawford’s turning southpaw on Canelo probably won’t confuse the Mexican star because he’s fought many left-handed fighters and has never had issues with them. If Bud turns southpaw, it won’t impact the fight other than him taking heavy shots while in a different stance.
The real issue that Arum doesn’t mention is Crawford being too old, small, and weak to be fighting at 168. He’s likely hoping to go up 14 lbs and duplicate what Floyd Mayweather Jr. did against a then 22-year-old Canelo in 2013.
If Mayweather and Canelo fought now, the version of Floyd who fought Canelo would get knocked out. Alvarez is much stronger and more experienced now, and he would never agree to a catchweight of 152 lbs. Floyd just threw jabs, single right hands, held and moved all night.
That style wouldn’t work now because Canelo would land the harder shots and be seen as the aggressor, forcing Floyd to run. Crawford will do the same because he’s too old and weak to stand and trade with Canelo. Just so you know, Terence turns 38 in September.
“I wouldn’t count Crawford out 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 train to fight a right-handed fighter, and ends up fighting a southpaw. 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 southpaw fighter.
“I think what Crawford is looking for is Manny Pacquiao vs. Oscar De La Hoya,” said Arum about what kind of upset situation 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 by that point in his career, and he’d been fighting at junior middleweight. He agreed to face Pacquiao at a catchweight at 145 and then took off too much weight by dieting. He looked terrible, making weight, and it showed in the fight.
Canelo wouldn’t be dieting or coming down in weight for Crawford, and he’s not an over-the-hill, part-time fighter like Oscar was. If Crawford thinks that Canelo will be another De La Hoya, he’s fooling himself. They’re two different people.
Canelo stays in shape, and he’s not going to agree to give Bud a catchweight handicap like De La Hoya did with Pacquiao. Oscar should have never done that because he was the ‘Golden Boy,’ the superstar in that fight, and he could have insisted Pacquiao move up to 154 to fight him. That was a weird situation where De La Hoya bent over backward to give Manny a better chance to even the playing field. By doing so, he weakened himself and lost.
