Former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson says it’s “too much weight” for Terence Crawford to be jumping up for his fight against undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez on September 13th.
Tyson doesn’t like the fight, and he mentions that Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) had problems in his last fight against Israil Madrimov in a one-division weight jump from 147 to 154.
Tyson’s Stance on the Fight
“I don’t like that fight. Too much weight. Crawford struggled with [Israil] Madrimov, a big, awkward guy; he shouldn’t have fought him,” said Mike Tyson to BeIN Sports about his thoughts on the Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford fight.
Former heavyweight champion Tyson recognizes how tough it’s going to be for Crawford going up two divisions to challenge the Mexican superstar Canelo for his four 168-lb belts. Tyson raises a good point about Crawford having struggled in his move up to 154 in his last fight against WBA junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov on August 3, 2024. Crawford edged Madrimov to win a 12-round unanimous decision by the scores 115-113, 116-112 and 115-113.
“Terence is skilled, but I see him as bloated and without real experience in this weight class,” trainer Abel Sánchez said.
It’s still unclear if Crawford will be “bloated” for the fight. He appears bigger than he was for his last fight in 2024. Sanchez is correct about Terence lacking experience at 168. That’s a decision that Crawford made not to use the year off that he’s had to fight once or twice at super middleweight. He could regret his decision not to get some experience in the weight class first before fighting Canelo.
“Canelo has fought bigger guys. So, I know Crawford’s power isn’t going to phase him. Crawford’s size ain’t going to phase him either,” said super middleweight contender Edgar Berlanga to Fight Hub TV. “For me, I think it’s a 50-50 fight.”
Canelo has consistently fought bigger fighters than Crawford since 2016. Although Crawford has a 3 1/2 inch reach advantage, Canelo is still the naturally bigger fighter.
Power Won’t Phase Canelo
“Crawford has to go in there and fight him. He has to show him his IQ and why he’s a two-time undisputed world champion. It’s a big weight difference and a big weight jump. That could be the difference in the fight. If he loses, we all know he jumped up two weight classes to be great,” said Berlanga.
It’s unlikely that Crawford is going to mix it up with Canelo because of the size and power difference. Crawford was willing to fight aggressively, moving up from 147 to 154 pounds for his clash with Madrimov. He took some big shots from Madrimov in that fight. Now that Crawford is jumping up two divisions to fight Alvarez at 168, it’s unrealistic to assume that he’ll brawl with him.
The Bivol Blueprint
Fans believe Crawford will box, move, and use the in-and-out strategy that Dmitry Bivol employed to defeat Canelo three years ago on May 7, 2022. In that fight, Bivol would come forward, throw fast combinations, then retreat. He was never there long enough for Canelo to unload.