By Sean Jones: Errol Spence Jr had the perfect come-back reply when told by the media that superstar Canelo Alvarez was picking Terence Crawford to beat him on Saturday by reminding people that he believed he was going to defeat Dmitry Bivol and was wrong then & lost.
Some believe that Canelo is only picking Crawford (39-0, 30 KOs) to win because Spence thinks he would lose to David Benavidez & Bivol.
“He backed himself to beat Dmitry Bivol, and he got his a** whooped,” said Errol Spence to the media when told that Canelo Alvarez is picking Terence Crawford to beat him.
Of course, Canelo could be following what others have said, as WBO welterweight champion Crawford is the favorite, so it only makes sense to choose him to win.
IBF, WBA & WBO welterweight champion Spence is coming off a long fifteen-month layoff since his last fight against Yordenis Ugas in April 2022, and that’s massive time out of the ring for a fighter about to face Crawford.
In hindsight, Spence should have taken one or two tune-up fights to get the rust out before undertaking a fight of this magnitude against Crawford. These would have been ideal tune-up matches for Spence:
– Keith Thurman
– Alexis Rocha
– Rashidi Ellis
– Shakhram Giyasov
Crawford looked dominant against Porter
If you compare how the 36-year-old Crawford looked beating Shawn Porter in 2021 to that of Spence’s win in 2019, it’s like night & day.
Crawford was far better, dominating Porter en route to scoring a tenth-round stoppage when Shawn’s trainer/father pulled him out when he hit the deck twice.
The only thing you can say that would make one believe Spence will win is that Crawford looked older and slower in his last fight against David Avanesyan, coming off a thirteen-month layoff.
Crawford appeared old, slow and took massive head & body shots from Avanesyan that he wouldn’t have a year or two earlier.
It’s unclear how hard Crawford trained for that fight, but if this was him in top condition, he’s aged and no longer the same fighter that beat Porter.
That version of Crawford will have tons of problems against Spence, and he could lose or take a bad beating en route to winning.
WBA light heavyweight champion Bivol embarrassed Canelo last year, beating him like a drum in a one-sided 12 round unanimous decision that the Nevada judges shockingly scored as a close fight 115-113 x 3.
Many boxing fans, however, saw it as a one-sided 10-2 win for Bivol. This writer agrees with that. Canelo then made himself look worse by not trying to avenge the loss, even when Bivol said he would be willing to come down to 168 to make things easier for him.
“How nightmarish is it to work and training leading up to that weigh-in and before the fight? I’m talking about getting to the weigh-in compared to walking that aisle a step into the ring,” said Stephen A. Jackson on his Youtube channel to Spence.
“It’s kind of hard, but right now I got dietitians, nutritionist, so that makes it a lot easier to go through the weigh-in,” said Spence on what he has to go through to make weight.
“Make sure you drink water, make sure you eat right, and get the right nutrients. So actually, the way is way better now than it used to be. I’m doing it by myself for a long time, so it’s been a struggle to make weight.”
Crawford looked much worse on Thursday during the final press conference than Spence, which indicates that he’s having a more challenging time making weight for this fight than him.
Crawford struggling to drain down
If you saw how big Crawford looked before he began his weight cut for this fight, he was bigger than Spence. Obviously, Crawford has bulked up too much for this contest, and he’s now paying the price with his difficult weight cut.
Terence must have put on an extra 15 lbs for this fight, believing he needs to be as big as possible to compete.
“So when you say you’ve been struggling to make the weight. What have your struggles been like this time compared to times in the past to make weight for this fight,” said Jackson.
“I’m only asking that question because we’re seeing a video of Terence Crawford ripped up and cut up on Instagram or whatever social media platform he was on where clearly he’s ready to go at the 147-pound limit. What about yourself?”
“I’m ready to go. One thing about me. I never miss weight. I always make weight,” said Spence.
