By Chris Williams: Shane Mosley says Terence Crawford will be “biting off more than he can chew” by moving up to 168 to face bigger-framed & stronger Canelo Alvarez for his undisputed super middleweight championship next year.
It’s believed that Crawford is down to his last three fights before he retires, and Canelo (59-2-2, 39 KOs) would be the ultimate cash-out for him. The three fights that Crawford is hoping for:
1. Errol Spence Jr – rematch
2. Jermell Charlo
3. Canelo Alvarez
Spence (28-1, 22 KOs) could throw a wrench in Crawford’s plans by beating him in their rematch at 154. If Errol is firing on all eight cylinders and not looking like he’s just emerged from a POW camp, he’ got a good chance of avenging his loss to Crawford at 154, 160 or 168.
If Crawford is hell-bent on going up to 168 to fight for the undisputed championship, fighting Spence at super middleweight would make the most sense.
Right now, Crawford is still in celebratory mode, drinking in the praise from the boxing world over his ninth round knockout win over Spence last July and enjoying the $20 million+ payday for that fight.
If Crawford isn’t ready for a different version of Spence in the rematch, his dreams of fighting Canelo & Jermell will shatter into a million pieces.
Ideally, Crawford should get his feet wet at 168 first before fighting Canelo so he can have a better chance of winning. He’s going straight into a fight with Canelo without any experience at super middleweight, but that’s what happens when a fighter is drunk on success.
They start to believe their own press clippings, thinking they can walk on water and are infallible. It’s just good that Crawford isn’t a general commanding troops because this could be bad. Crawford should get experience under his belt by putting boots on the ground against these super middleweights before tackling Canelo:
- David Benavidez
- Caleb Plant
- David Morrell Jr
- Demetrius Andrade
- Diego Pacheco
Canelo too big & too strong
“I see Crawford winning, but I can see [Jermell] Charlo winning as well,” said Shane Mosley to The Art Of Dialogue when asked who wins between Terence Crawford & Jermell Charlo.
“Charlo has height & size, speed, and he knows how to time his punches right. If Crawford has a problem with the speed [of Jermell], it could be an issue and the height & range.
“For me, I think Crawford has the edge in that fight because he can go right-handed, southpaw, and he throws punches from different angles and the hooks landing from different angles, whereas Charlo’s are more straight.”
You can’t overlook the power in Jermell Charlo’s straight shots because he can do a lot of damage to Crawford & Canelo with those punches.
Jermell doesn’t need to throw shots from different angles or change stances like Crawford does to get you out of there. Charlo is like a baseball pitcher with a 100 mph fastball. When you have that kind of speed, why mess around with the junk stuff?
“So, I would go Crawford, but Jermell does have a good shot. I can see him winning, too. I can see both guys winning. It’s a good fight.
“I think he’s biting off more than he can chew because Canelo is a big boy,” said Mosley about Crawford wanting to move up to 168 to face Caneelo Alvarez for his undisputed super middleweight championship.
Size matters
“The size of the boxing ring, it matters. I know because when I went to 154, I wasn’t really a 154-pounder. I won some titles and knocked out some people, but in reality, I knew I wasn’t a 154-pounder,” said Mosley.
Where Mosley’s career went downhill was when he moved up three divisions from lightweight to junior middleweight and lost to Winky Wright x 2, Canelo Alvarez & Anthony Mundine.
Crawford is thinking about doing the same thing by going up three divisions, but obviously, he’s thinking about the good clean cash that’s waiting for him against Canelo.
“When you go up against top-class fighters in that weight class, then it becomes a problem. In my fight with Winky Wright [in 2004]. Winky was a lot bigger than me [one inch in height & reach]. He probably went in the ring 175, and I went in the ring 162.
“I would punch him, and it was like I was punching pillows or something, and nothing happened. But when I fought at lightweight and light welterweight, I hit them, and something happened.
“Nothing happened. I wasn’t getting any reaction. So, I was like, that’s the type of thing that Crawford is going to have to deal with when he fights a bigger person like Canelo. It’s not going to be the same reaction.
“Crawford is going to have to box. Crawford is a boxer, he can box, but he’s a fighter that wants to fight and punch like me. He’s like, ‘Oh, you hit me. I’m hitting you back. You think you did something?’
“It’s competition, and I think Canelo is too big for that to happen right now as far as his size. Yeah, I have Canelo [beating Crawford]. He’s too big.
“I was 40 and he was 21,” said Mosley about when he fought Canelo in 2012 and lost a twelve round unanimous decision. “He’s actually a year older than my son.
“When I fought Canelo, I actually lost a million bet trying to win six million dollars. So actually, I had to pay 400,000 for the fight for me fighting him out of my pocket 400,000.
“I noticed when I fought him, he was very knowledgable with ring generalship, knowing the ring, knowing when to counter, knowing different stuff. I’m like, ‘This young kid, he’s got old school values as far as his mind is concerned. He understands what’s going on. Nothing is rattling him.’
“I was trying to put a lot of pressure on him, throwing a lot of jabs at him, doing a lot of different stuff, like little veteran stuff, and he was like, ‘Alright, no problem.’ I’m like, ‘Okay.’
“I knew back then that Canelo was the real deal. I’m like, ‘He’s the real deal. This little young guy can fight,'” said Mosley about his observations about his fight with Canelo Alvarez eleven years ago in 2021.
