The overall fan perception of yesterday’s Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford altercation at the press conference was that it appeared staged, a poorly acted marketing ploy by both fighters for their upcoming superfight.
Canelo-Crawford Altercation: Staged Perception
There was a lack of genuine conviction during the face-off, particularly in the incident involving shoving. It would be a good idea not to use that gimmick for the next press conference. What they need is acting coaches to prepare them to give the appearance of realness. That looked 100% scripted.
They need to build this as a genuine rivalry, not one designed for the big multi-million paydays they’re both receiving. If the great acting coach Lee Strasberg were still around, he might be able to help Canelo and Crawford give them a crash course in method acting.
New Theatrics for Las Vegas
For the next press conference this Friday, June 27th, in Las Vegas, Canelo-Crawford needs to come up with some new WWE-esque theatrics to create more hype for this fight. What we saw yesterday was two aging fighters going through the motions to promote their Netflix fight on September 13th.
Contrived Animosity
The interactions need to look less contrived without the fake animosity that we saw in New York. Fans saw the picture of the two eating dinner with Turki Alalshikh two days before the press conference, and both looked like old friends. Canelo looked happy hanging out with his buddy, Crawford, about to make a ton of dough in a circus-style event.
The tickets will sell anyway because Canelo is involved in the event. But to create interest among casual fans who don’t follow boxing, it’s going to require more work on both of their parts. People who subscribe to Netflix do it to watch movies, not boxing. So, get them interested in taking time to watch Canelo-Crawford, they’ve got to use theatrics that don’t appear fake like yesterday’s.
Crawford’s Emotionless Talking Points
Crawford sounded like he was reciting lines during the press conference, but sounded like a parrot. This was one of the more interesting quotes from Crawford: “I’m hunting him. I’m hunting everything that he’s got, and I’m going to take it come September 13.” He delivered that quote with an emotionless expression, as if reciting a memorized line. Again, there was no realness in his character.