By: Sean Crose
It’s understandable why some, if not most, fight fans would consider super middleweight/light heavyweight Canelo Alvarez to be a bridge too far for junior middleweight Terence Crawford. One hundred sixty eight pounds is quite a weight advantage to hold over a one hundred fifty four pound fighter. Even at a catchweight it’s clear that Canelo’s size might present a considerable problem for former junior welterweight Crawford. Still, there are those who know the fight game inside and out who feel that Crawford stands a good chance against Canelo if the two men should meet in the near future.
If famed trainer Teddy Atlas has anything to say about it (and Atlas always has lots to say), Crawford shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand. Although the fighter known as “Bud” didn’t stop Israil Madrimov in his junior middleweight debut, he still won the fight. What’s more, Atlas feels it was a learning experience for the multi-division champion.
“Don’t go and believe it’s going to be the same Crawford,” Atlas told Fight Hub, “when he steps up to one sixty eight if that happens. This is going to be a better armed Crawford, even better than he’s been. This is going to be a Crawford that’s now armed with that information, now armed with more confidence, now armed with the things that he needs in his mind to add another pelt to his collection, to add another belt, another title, to add to the already great collection that he has.”
Does that mean Atlas feels Crawford will beat Canelo? Of course not. Earlier in the interview, Atlas spoke glowingly of Canelo and indicated it’s foolish to consider the man is finished at this point in his long career. Sure enough, Atlas said he felt Canelo had made some positive changes on his own when he defeated Edgar Berlanga a few weeks back.
The truth is that a Canelo-Crawford fight should be an outrageous proposition. As things stand, after all, Canelo now fights two, sometimes three, divisions above where Crawford fights at the moment. What makes this possible throwdown intriguing, however, is Crawford, a disciplined, skillful, dynamic fighter who may well be the single best fighter, pound for pound on earth. Seeing a great like Crawford facing a living legend such as Canelo is frightening and enticing simultaneously – frightening because of the difference in the fighter’s natural sizes, enticing because it’s genuinely worth wondering if Crawford could pull it off.