TRUE GRIT
on The Ring’s top 10 pound-for-pound list, four spots above the seventh-rated Alvarez. Like Pacquiao at lightweight before he challenged De La Hoya, Crawford has only competed once at junior middleweight. The Nebraskan’s performance in that fight drew criticism, yet Crawford legitimately beat Uzbekistan’s Israil Madrimov – a strong, career-long junior middleweight – on all three scorecards on August 3 at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles. Unless Crawford takes an interim match before he challenges Alvarez, he also will advance two divisions to take what, at least on paper, appears to be the most difficult fight of his 16- year professional career. At least one of Alvarez’s conquests, Josesito Lopez, suspects Crawford’s diverse skill set and ring IQ will enable him to make the fight competitive before Alvarez eventually becomes too much for him. “I think he might be too small to beat Canelo,” Lopez told independent journalist Sean Zittel. “But I don’t think he’s too small to [not] make it a good, interesting fight for the first half to two- thirds of the fight. But I think eventually the size will be too much.” Alvarez’s size was too much for Lopez when he moved up to junior middleweight to face Alvarez in September 2012. Lopez, of Riverside, California, mostly competed at or slightly above the junior welterweight maximum of 140 pounds prior to his shot at Alvarez’s WBC 154-pound crown. An aggressive Alvarez overwhelmed Lopez, who was knocked down in the second, third and fourth rounds before Canelo stopped him in the fifth round. Though Alvarez (62-2-2, 39 KOs) has more preofessional experience than Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) – including the physical wear and tear that comes with it – Lopez expects the Guadalajara
native to handle another of the best boxers of this generation. “I think Canelo has more than enough in the tank to beat a great, skilled fighter like Crawford,” Lopez said. To Crawford’s credit, he has made it clear through his social media platforms that he did not request a rehydration clause during negotiations conducted by Turki Alalshikh to limit how much weight Alvarez could put on between the weigh-in and fight night. “[Crawford] doesn’t drink or smoke. He’s always focused, keeps himself in tremendous shape. ... Canelo is obviously an all-time great, but it will be a great fight.” Crawford criticized Gervonta Davis because the WBA lightweight titleholder made Ryan Garcia come down to a catchweight of 136 pounds and insisted upon a rehydration clause that limited Garcia to adding no more than 10 pounds prior to a second-day weigh-in. Davis knocked Garcia out with a body shot in the seventh round of their April 2023 bout. Leonard Ellerbe, former longtime CEO of Mayweather Promotions and Davis’ adviser, considers Crawford’s challenge much different than the task Floyd Mayweather Jr. embraced when he challenged Alvarez for his Ring/WBC 154-pound championship in September 2013. “Floyd’s walk-around weight was how he trained,” Ellerbe told The Ring. “So he never had to be in a situation where he had to lose weight. He would walk around, let’s say, at 150. Therefore, he trained and boxed every camp at his walk-around weight. That allowed him to be very, very strong, because he was able to eat the way he ate when he wasn’t training for a fight. The key to him being as successful as he was, was
that he didn’t have to lose any weight, where he would deplete himself. He was very, very strong because his walk- around weight was his fighting weight.” Mayweather was dominant against Alvarez, despite ringside judge CJ Ross absurdly scoring the 12-round bout a draw, 114-114. But there are important differences between Mayweather- Alvarez and Alvarez-Crawford. Mayweather only moved up from the welterweight maximum of 147 pounds to a catchweight of 152 to face Alvarez in their Showtime Pay-Per-View main event, whereas Crawford’s jump from the junior middleweight maximum of 154 pounds to super middleweight could be as much as 14 pounds. One advantage Ellerbe thinks Crawford possesses, however, is that he has always taken a completely professional approach to his career, much like Mayweather. “Crawford is also a very disciplined fighter,” Ellerbe said. “He doesn’t drink or smoke. He’s always focused, keeps himself in tremendous shape. So those things are very similar. Canelo is obviously an all-time great, but it will be a great fight.” Arum won’t be involved in Alvarez- Crawford from a promotional standpoint, but he doesn’t think it’ll be difficult for Alalshikh or anyone else involved to sell a bout that has already captivated the collective imagination of the boxing public. “If you tell the truth,” Arum said, “and tell why the guy is coming up to fight a guy who is in the higher weight category, then you tell the people why he has a good chance to win. If you’re sincere in that, it’ll come through, and people can believe it or not believe it. There’s no trick in promoting that. You just say what you feel and why you feel it’s a good fight for your fighter coming up in weight, and you let it go at that. There’s not a roadmap to promoting that. You just tell the truth.” Keith Idec is a senior writer and columnist for The Ring. He can be reached on X @idecboxing.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. outclassed a 23-year-old Alvarez in 2013.
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