By Allan Fox: Kyrone Davis says Terence Crawford will need the perfect performance for him to defeat Canelo Alvarez due to the Mexican star’s size, power, and experience advantage.
The super middleweight, Kyrone, who has sparred with Canelo & Crawford, feels that Alvarez has the power and size, making it very difficult for the 147-lb Terence to win.
Davis knows how hard Canelo hits and how big he is compared to Crawford and feels that the Omaha, Nebraska native would be up against it if he shared the ring with the King.
Assuming Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs) chooses not to get acclimated to the 168-lb division next year by going up and taking on the likes of David Benavidez, Demetrius Andrade, or David Morrell, he would be jumping up 21 lbs for a payday against Canelo (60-2-2, 39 KOs).
The experience or lack thereof for Crawford would make it doubly hard trying to defeat a talent like Canelo because he doesn’t have the experience to knock him off his perch at the top of the super middleweight division.
Given Crawford’s advantage age at 36, he would need to gain experience in a hurry by moving up to 168 right away to take on the murderer’s row of contenders that are at the head of the line in the rankings, waiting impatiently for their shot at Canelo.
Canelo obviously knows why Crawford is interested in fighting him, and that’s why he’s let the media know that it’s not going to happen. What’s disappointing about this is the fact that Crawford isn’t willing to at least try and earn the fight with Canelo by moving up to 168 and giving his best shot to knock off two or three of the top dogs: Benavidez, Morrell & Andrade.
If Crawford beat the ‘Big Three’ at 168, he can say, ‘See, I did it. I earned it. I’m not just a needy, money-hungry desperado looking for a payday.‘
It would take courage for Crawford to put his hide at risk against the ‘Big Three,’ and that’s obviously why he’s trying so hard to talk his way into the fight with Canelo rather than risking his backside against those killers.
Although Crawford has been professional for fifteen years, he’s fought just once elite-level fighter, Errol Spence Jr., and he obviously drained & a physical wreck of the guy he’d been four years earlier before his devasting car crash in 2019.
“Tall task” for Crawford to beat Canelo
“I’ve been in the ring with Crawford too. I got Crawford ready for when he fought Shawn Porter. I was with him for a few weeks,” said Kyrone Davis to YSM Sports Media, who helped Terence Crawford with sparring in the past and has also sparred with Canelo Alvarez.
“What do I think about that fight? Everybody knows Crawford has got skills, but I do think Canelo is a little big. He’s a little big for Crawford, and it would be a tall task for him to win.”
It would take not only the perfect fight for Crawford to beat Canelo, but he would need a minor miracle for it to happen. As Kyrone points out, a victory for Crawford is possible, but it would be an extraordinary set of circumstances for it to happen.
Again, Crawford could improve his chances of winning against Canelo if he moved up to 168 and got his feet wet against Dmitry Bivol, Benavidez, Andrade, or Morrell Jr.
Unfortunately, he’s not showing the John D. Rockefeller initiative to want to become super rich by putting in the hard work to make the money. If you could implant Rockefeller’s ambition into Crawford’s head, he would move up to 168 right away and take on the guys to earn the Canelo payday. Heck, with the right experience, Crawford might even beat King Canelo.
“It would be a lot to get that victory based on size alone,” said Kyrone about Crawford having a tough task, given Canelo’s size. “Not that size wins fights, but you have a guy that has size and skills. It would be hard. Nothing is impossible, but if I had my money on someone winning the fight, it would be Canelo Alvarez,” said Kyrone, picking the Mexican star to beat Crawford if the fight happens.
Canelo’s power advantage
“Terence Crawford is a great fighter; they’re both great fighters,” said Davis. “You got two great fighters in there. I think one guy [Canelo] has the advantage due to his body make up his body, and how big of a person he is. I think that would be a deciding factor in that fight.”
We saw how Jermell Charlo wilted under the power shots from Canelo last September, and he’s bigger & stronger than Crawford.
It stands to reason if Jermell turned tail and ran from the battlefield against Canelo, Crawford might do the same thing when the Mexican star started bombarding him with a fusillade of artillery.
“Absolutely,” said Kyrone when asked if Crawford would need to fight the perfect fight, moving up 21 lbs, to try and beat Canelo. “I think size will play a factor in that fight. It’ll be a lot harder to damage Canelo.”
It won’t work if Crawford uses a hit-and-run style, hoping the judges will give him the decision against Canelo because we’ve seen fighters try that approach, and it doesn’t work.
The judges give more weight to Canelo’s harder, more cleaner-landing punches. You’re not going to get a cheap win against Canelo, using a safety-first Mayweather-esque approach to trying to beat him.
To beat Canelo, you have to be willing to risk getting knocked out or beaten up. Dmitry Bivol showed how to do it, but he’s highly skilled, and his defense was impenetrable against Canelo.
Moreover, Bivol had a steel chin that helped him take the hard shots that did get through his defensive fortification. It’s doubtful that Crawford could take the kinds of shots that Bivol did from Canelo without keeling over and taking a long nap.
“Canelo’s punches will be a lot more effective than Crawford’s punches if they fight at 168. So, I think it’ll be an issue. It’s not impossible [for Crawford to win], but it’ll be hard,” said Kyrone.
