Canelo Álvarez Vs Terence Crawford: A Fight For The Ages

By Abu Mahmood: A fighter will go through their career searching for one moment. Some are unlucky enough not to receive an opportunity like that.  Others will strive and push themselves to the limit to etch their name in the history books.

They will climb up that mountain repeatedly just so they can have their hand raised and proclaimed as “World Champion” in front of the entire world. Once that is accomplished, what else is there left to strive for?

Some fighters avoid each other, and some fighters want to fight each other but many issues plague the fight being made but sometimes in boxing, we see the absolute epitome of the human desire for greatness and for the distinction of being called the greatest of all time which trumps all issues and shows both fighters intention to be the proverbial “king of the jungle.”

How often in the sport of boxing do we see 2 of the top Pound-4-Pound fighters fight each other?

With talks and efforts being made to potentially see the dynamic Terence Crawford (41-0-0, 31 KOs) face off against the ring general that is Canelo Álvarez  (61-2-2, 39 KOs), what better time is there to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of both fighters?

Terence Crawford

Strengths

Switch-hitter: Crawford can fight both in the Orthodox and Southpaw stances. An ability that allows him to confuse his opponents as they will not see the punches coming from different angles. As he is comfortable in both stances, he can throw punches with power from more angles than one would usually from fighting in one stance.

When Crawford fought Shawn Porter (31-4-1, 17 KOs), he was able to switch stances which led to him stopping Porter in the tenth round. Switching stances allows a fighter to unlock new ways to disrupt the flow of the opponent and allows the fighter to dictate the pace of the fight.

Ring IQ: Crawford is very aware of his position in the ring and has a very high understanding of how to protect himself when slipping or rolling out of the way of a punch. Against Israil Madrimov (10-1-1, 7 KOs), Crawford was able to predict the punch Madrimov would throw and would be able to make him miss, leaving him open for a counter.

Crawford is a very technical fighter; he leaves no mistakes unpunished. When Madrimov over-extended on an uppercut, Crawford was able to answer right back with an uppercut of his own, perfectly timing the distance.

Finishing ability: Terence Crawford can methodically break his opponents down by analysing what their most common angles and go-to moves are. This allows him to work on countering and ultimately finishing his opponents. When Crawford senses his opponent can be put away for good, he does not rush in for the “kill”, he waits and keeps applying the pressure before landing his finishing blow.

Footwork: Crawford is a very reactive fighter. Always moving, he makes himself very hard to hit. He uses his footwork to create angles, to cut off the ring, and to make the opponent feel as though he does not have enough space to work in.

Weaknesses

Fighting on the back foot: Terence Crawford isn’t the best when faced with an aggressive fighter. One that builds up their aggression and their pressure. This was shown in fights against Kell Brook (40-3-0, 28 KOs) and Egidijus Kavaliauskas (24-2-1, 19 KOs), where he was in trouble.

Although Crawford was victorious in both fights, when moving up to Middleweight to fight Canelo, Crawford will be faced with a larger and equally aggressive opponent.

Susceptibility to body shots: Crawford prefers to keep a high guard when actively blocking shots which allows him to be susceptible to body shots. In his most recent fight against Madrimov, where he moved up to fight a naturally larger opponent, he was hit with frequent body shots.

When moving up a weight class, you obtain more power, if he faces Canelo, then being hit with body shots will slow Crawford down tremendously which will impact his footwork and this will start to shut him down leading to slower reactions and less output.

Canelo Álvarez 

Strengths:

Ring presence: Canelo has a ring presence that often leaves his opponents in awe. This combination of awe and nervousness can lead to Canelo taking control of a fight very quickly. As they say in boxing ”You never want to be playing catch-up”. Once the flow of a fight is firmly in a fighter’s control, it is very difficult to take it back which leads to the opponent resigning themselves to being the B-side on the night.

Adaptability: Canelo can adapt on the go against his opponents. He can recognize if a fighter is repeating the same thing or if a fighter has a tell which allows him to plan how to counter whilst in the middle of the fight.

Some examples from his career include when he countered Billy Joe Saunders (30-1-0, 14KOs) with an uppercut which shattered Saunders’ orbital bone and was the beginning of the end.

Another example of Canelo’s ability to adapt would be when he fought Amir Khan (34-6-0, 21KOs) and was slightly frustrated by his speed until he started targeting Khan’s body with power shots to create an opening for a devastating right hand which laid Khan out cold.

Calm under pressure: One could argue that Canelo has more to prove by defending his world titles than the challenger trying to dethrone him. This said, Canelo can stay calm under pressure in his fights, which allows him to remain focused on the task at hand without being swayed by emotions or the crowd. The bigger the fight, the more eyes are on the event, and it takes a special individual to stay calm with all that pressure on their shoulders.

Resilience: Canelo is a very resilient fighter. He keeps to the game plan and rarely moves away from it. He adapts the style needed and keeps to it. Most of the time, he is content to walk his opponent down and cut the ring off, which allows him to break his opponent down.
Weaknesses:

Flat-footed: Canelo, at this stage in his career, prefers to use a simpler, flat-footed stance, which makes him slower and allows other boxers to beat him to the punch. This resigns him to losing rounds and taking longer to break his opponent down. Dmitry Bivol (23-0-0, 12KOs), was able to take advantage of this and beat Canelo to the punch by assuming a more active stance and approach.

Struggles against boxers that rely on footwork: Canelo has struggled against fighters such as Billy Joe Saunders and Caleb Plant (22-2-0, 13Kos) due to their ability to move around the ring and keep on their feet. Although Canelo beat both Saunders and Plant, he visibly struggled to keep up with their movement which may impact him negatively if Crawford can keep his fluidity at that weight.

This fight would be one of the biggest challenges for both fighters. Crawford would dare for greatness against one of the most accomplished fighters of the last decade. Canelo would face one of the most technical and elusive fighters in the world today.

Both men would fight for something more than world titles here. They would fight for legacy and the right to be known as one of the most quintessential fighters in the history of boxing.

This writer believes this would be a cagey match-up to start with. Canelo and Crawford would spend the first few rounds adapting to each other’s styles with a few big shots thrown. This fight would come down to one thing: Mental willpower.

Many times we see a fighter persevere through hard moments in a fight just to come back and win. It’s one of the things that we as boxing fans love to see, and it’s one of the things that make the sport of boxing more inspiring.