Regis Prograis says Canelo Alvarez’s side will be too much for Terence Crawford on September 13th. Prograis believes Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) is a great fighter, but his lack of size in comparison to the Mexican star will sink his chances of winning.
Regis noted that former undisputed junior middleweight champion Jermell Charlo discovered that when he moved up from 154 to 168 to fight Canelo in 2023, he couldn’t deal with the size and power.
Crawford’s Advantages
– Speed
– Mobility
– Reach
– Ring IQ
– Southpaw stance
Prograis on Crawford’s Size
“I’m going Canelo. It’s great big man against great little man. Usually the great big man usually wins,” said Regis Prograis to Fighthype, picking Canelo Alvarez to defeat Terence Crawford. “The same thing with Mel [Jermell Charlo].”
To win, Crawford will need to outwork Canelo by a significant margin because the judges will be more swayed by the harder shots being landed by the Mexican star if their landed punches are the same. To land and throw more, Crawford will have to put himself in a position of being hit. That’s not good for him, because he’s never fought anyone with Canelo’s power, and he’ll be coming off a year-long layoff.
Charlo’s Lesson for Crawford
“Skill-wise, Crawford is great. Historically, you can put him in as one of the greatest fighters ever,” said Prograis. “But with that size difference. When Mel went up when they were facing off, Mel was looking big. He was looking bigger than Canelo. They were like, ‘Damn, Mel looks big.’ On fight night, you could see the difference.”
Jermell Charlo didn’t look that much smaller than Canelo inside the ring. The reason he lost that fight was that he didn’t react well to the power of Alvarez. When Jermell got hit early on, he recognized that Canelo was too dangerous for him to take the risk of exchanging with him. So, he went into survival mode and ran for the rest of the night.
We don’t know if Crawford will do the same thing because his huge multi-million dollar purse is guaranteed. However, he will put out effort because he knows that he must win to get a rematch with Canelo
“Crawford never fought nobody that big. I feel he has the style to beat Canelo. You got Floyd, Bivol, Lara, and even Charlo was giving him problems,” said Prograis about fighters that gave Alvarez problems in his career. You got to know how to box him. But, how can he [Crawford] take that punch? In the 12 rounds, you’re going to get hit. That’s a big strong a** dude,” said Prograis about Canelo.
Alvarez’s A-Side Advantage
Crawford can’t expect to be given any gifts from the judges if he chooses to run around the ring, forcing Canelo to chase him all night. Canelo is the A-side in this fight, which means there won’t be the same favorable scoring that Crawford got against Israil Madrimov last August. He’s going to have to actually fight the Mexican star to win a decision. If he does that, hes going to get hit a lot.
