Eddie Hearn believes that Terence Crawford’s inactivity is one reason why he’s picking Canelo Alvarez to defeat him on Saturday night at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
Promoter Hearn states that Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) last fought in 2024 against Israil Madrimov, 13 months ago, and before that, he’d been inactive for another 13 months when he fought Errol Spence in July 2023. So, Bud has had two fights in two years going into Saturday’s fight against undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo (63-2-2, 39 KOs) on September 13.
Hearn says he thinks that Crawford is overconfident and way too sure that he’s going to come through this fight bagging another victory. He doesn’t say why that is, but it could have something to do with how beatable Canelo looked in his last fight against IBF super middleweight champion William Scull on May 3, 2025. Hearn points out that Canelo looked “unmotivated” and “old” in that fight.
Hearn’s Cold Reality Check
“The inactivity of Crawford. Inactivity kills fighters [careers]. He boxed Madrimov over a year ago,” said promoter Eddie Hearn to the Stomping Ground, discussing how Terence Crawford’s inactivity could sink his chances of defeating Canelo Alvarez on Saturday.
“That was his last fight, and the Spence fight was a year before that. So, he’s had two fights in two years. Moving up to 168, I found it difficult to go against Canelo. I’m going for a Canelo Alvarez win.”
It seems insane and irresponsible that Crawford has chosen to sit inactive for an entire year since his near-disaster against Israil Madrimov on August 3, 2024. That was the worst possible time for Bud to decide to stick to his part-time boxing schedule of fighting once a year, which he has done since 2021.
One reason Crawford has gotten away with fighting so seldom is that his opposition hasn’t been elite-level fighters who were a threat to him. He fought worn-out fighters and a good but not great junior middleweight in the last four years.
Crawford’s Last Four Fights
- Israil Madrimov: 2024
- Errol Spence: 2023
- David Avanesyan: 2022
- Shawn Porter: 2021
Looking at those guys, it’s understandable why Crawford has gotten away with fighting annually since 2021. None of them were anywhere near elite-level, and no threat to beating him. Spence was just a shell of the fighter he’d once been when Crawford fought him. We’d seen that in Errol’s two fights after his horrifying October 10, 2019, crash of his Ferrari, he was not the same fighter.
The Losing Formula
Just sparring during that time isn’t nearly enough in my view to prepare Crawford for what’s ahead of him against Canelo. He should have fought in the super middleweight division twice if he wanted to be ready for the heavy shots he’s going to be dealing with against Canelo on Saturday night.
Hearn says he doubts that Alvarez will start fast on Saturday by fighting aggressively. He points out that Crawford is an excellent counter-puncher and has feet to make things difficult for Canelo if he decides to come out swinging.
Hearn states that if he were Crawford, he’d focus on outboxing, using movement, and frustrating him to bank rounds in the first half of the fight. Obviously, that approach would be boring for the fans watching at Allegiant Stadium and at home on Netflix.
It likely won’t please Turki Alalshikh either, as he’s paying Crawford a reported $50 million. Having Terence run around the ring, fighting a negative fight by “frustrating” Canelo, won’t be entertaining to watch for the 60,000+ fans at Allegiant Stadium and Netflix viewers.
