BATTLE PLAN: TERENCE CRAWFORD
CANELO’S STRENGTHS Canelo’s explosive power shots, especially early in fights, are a major advantage. Although he hasn’t recorded any stoppages in his last six bouts, he has knocked down many of his
Canelo has been a wrecking ball at 168 pounds and has beaten fighters of all shapes and sizes at the weight. He has the big-fight experience, the punching power with both hands and will have the crowd on his side on fight
“Sometimes when guys are attacking fighters, they don’t get the credit for having good defense,” said Edwards. “Canelo can catch punches. He can slip punches. He has great anticipation. He has the ability to counterpunch, and
night. He’s truly formidable in the ring and has already stamped himself as a first- ballot Hall of Famer. But there are those, especially many insiders in the boxing industry, who believe that Crawford has an exceptionally good chance of beating Canelo. Throughout his career, the Nebraskan has defanged his toughest opponents with a preternatural ability to make adjustments in the ring and deliver knockouts with either hand and from either stance. Crawford’s next-level ring I.Q. is only matched by his dogged determination to win.
he can make you miss really clean. His defense is really, really good. “It’s harder to actually implement your defense when you are coming forward and attacking. Most of the top defensive fighters are in retreat more than they attack. But Canelo is a really good defensive fighter who is also a very good offensive fighter. I think he’s elite on both ends.” Breadman also marvels at Canelo’s chin. The Mexican idol has faced a significant number of big punchers throughout his career and has never hit the canvas as a
Stephen Edwards is a world-class trainer and a terrific boxing analyst.
We know Crawford will not be there to lay down or cash himself out. There is a question of whether he’ll play it a bit safer than usual, however. Philadelphia-based boxing trainer Stephen “Breadman” Edwards is a believer in Crawford. In addition to training former unified junior middleweight titleholder Julian Williams and former super middleweight beltholder Caleb Plant, Edwards is known for his acute boxing mind. He’s a brilliant fight analyst who has shared his knowledge on the pages of The Ring many times before. And he’s been on record picking Crawford in his weekly mailbag column on BoxingScene.com. In reaching out to Breadman, I wanted him to expound on the factors that led him to side with Crawford for the matchup – specifically, what advantages and disadvantages that Canelo brings into the fight, how Edwards would go about training Crawford to face Canelo, and what would be the ideal tactics for Crawford on fight night.
professional. In addition, he has rarely displayed signs of being hurt in the ring. His ability to take punches is an advantage, especially when facing a sharpshooter like Crawford. “He has one of the better chins of the era, if not the best,” said Edwards. “Very rarely do we see him get hurt. He’s moved through four weight divisions. We don’t see him get dropped. He’s never been stopped. His chin is a historical chin.” CANELO’S WEAKNESSES Canelo’s lack of recent knockouts may in fact suggest that he’s in the midst of a physical decline. He has now gone seven fights without a stoppage (including his loss to the current undisputed light heavyweight champion, Dmitry Bivol), which in contemporary boxing can feel like an eternity. While he is still hurting opponents, he is also letting them off the hook. And it isn’t as if he’s fighting guys who can’t be dropped, hurt or stopped. John Ryder had knockout losses before and after fighting Canelo,
opponents, from John Ryder to Jaime Munguia to Edgar Berlanga. He has heavy hands, and his left hook to the body is one of the best power shots in boxing. Beyond that, he has a full arsenal at his disposal and has used a variety of memorable punches in his stoppage victories: right uppercut (Billy Joe Saunders), overhand right (Sergey Kovalev), left hook to the head (Caleb Plant), etc. Canelo will also have the advantage of experience at the weight class. He’s faced and beaten punchers at 168 pounds and has even beaten a puncher at light heavyweight (Kovalev, back in 2019). Canelo has also sparred with heavyweights throughout his career. He’s more than comfortable exchanging heavy fire with opponents. Edwards praised Canelo’s defense in particular, believing it doesn’t command the respect that it should in boxing.
Crawford seized the undisputed championship with a ruthless beatdown of Errol Spence Jr.
but Canelo couldn’t finish him. Jaime Munguia (who was responsible for Ryder’s post-Canelo TKO loss) was recently stopped by Bruno Surace, who had only four career knockouts before facing Munguia. But Munguia was able to go the distance with Canelo. Although Canelo is technically the younger fighter in this matchup (35 to Crawford’s almost 38), in terms of pro fights he has experienced much more wear and tear. This is amazingly his 20th year as a professional fighter, and his bout against Crawford will be his 68th, whereas Crawford will be making his 42nd ring appearance as a pro. I’d also argue that Canelo has had far more grueling fights in his career, from the Gennadiy Golovkin series to the Erislandy Lara and Austin Trout fights,
all related to his physical attributes. He points to Canelo’s foot speed as a disadvantage. He believes that Crawford will clearly be the better athlete in the second half of the fight. Breadman also has doubts about Canelo’s overall conditioning at this point of his career: There’s an inability to get stoppages after dropping fighters, and Canelo seems to need the occasional round off. His comfort level with taking fights to a decision and to not stepping on the gas is also telling. Edwards believes that there’s a pattern to Canelo’s recent fights that reveals weaknesses. “If you notice,” said Edwards, “with Canelo’s recent opponents, Canelo was catching them with something big early and then they get to a point where they
he’s had many physical and/or mentally taxing nights in the ring. Although Crawford has been known to give up a few early rounds, it was only in his last fight against Madrimov that the result was in doubt when the final scorecards were announced. He just hasn’t had the same number of tough fights in his career, which in many respects speaks highly of his talent, but it also reveals that Canelo has generally been in the ring with higher-quality opposition. Breadman believes that Canelo’s biggest weaknesses in this matchup are
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