Promoter Oscar De La Hoya says Terence Crawford’s efficiency final Saturday towards Ismail Madrimov has made him change his thoughts about whether or not he may beat unified tremendous middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez.
(Credit score: Esther Lin/Premier Boxing Champions)
Crawford’s Struggles In opposition to Madrimov
De La Hoya states that going into the Crawford-Madrimov struggle, he thought Crawford could be too expert for Canelo (61-2-2, 39 KOs), even at 168. Nevertheless, after watching him battle towards WBA junior middleweight champion Madrimov on the BMO Area in Los Angeles, he now believes Alvarez would beat him on measurement and expertise.
Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) had lots going towards him in that struggle, coming off a 12 months layoff, shifting up in weight and age, and by no means having fought many, if any, high-level fighters throughout his profession. It was smoke and mirrors with Crawford and Madrimov uncovered that.
De La Hoya didn’t say whether or not he would nonetheless prefer to see Crawford transfer as much as 168 for the Canelo struggle or if he would favor he struggle guys nearer to his personal weight class at 154 and 147.
“I really thought Crawford would beat Canelo earlier than I noticed him struggle Saturday [against Israil Madrimov],” mentioned Oscar De La Hoya to the Sean Zittel YouTube website about his perception that Canelo Alvarez would beat Terence Crawford after watching Crawford’s struggle final Saturday evening towards WBA junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov.
“It modified my thoughts. I believe the larger, higher man within the historical past of the game will all the time beat small fighter. It’s written within the historical past of boxing. It didn’t assist with me and Pacquiao as a result of I used to be over the hill. I used to be older, I used to be shot, however within the historical past of the game, it all the time occurs.”
Crawford turns 37 in September, and he’d been piling up wins over plenty of older, lesser fighters for a few years. We’d by no means seen him in with anybody actually good for a minimum of a decade, and it was apparent that he was not so good as we’d thought.
Crawford’s Previous Opponents
Crawford had been padding his resume being these fighters for the final six years:
– Errol Spence: *Put up automotive crash
– Shawn Porter: Washed up at 34
– David Avanesyan: Fringe contender
– Jeff Horn: Paper champion
– Kell Brook: Put up Golovkin knockout = washed
– Egidijus Kavaliauskas: WIFI password = Fringe contender
– Amir Khan: Washed
– Jose Benavidez Jr: Gunshot sufferer
“The larger, higher man will all the time beat the nice smaller man,” mentioned De La Hoya about his perception that Canelo could be too huge and too good for the smaller Crawford.
Canelo-Crawford Struggle Nonetheless Doable, However Unlikely
The Canelo-Crawford struggle can nonetheless occur, however it can require that His Excellency Turki Alalshikh provide you with the $150 million purse request that Canelo has requested for, and he doesn’t seem keen to do this.
“When a person involves America and needs to ship to us the very best and the largest fights how can one argue? It’s unattainable,” mentioned De La Hoya about His Excellency Turki Alalshikh. “Sure, convey us extra. We love boxing, we love the struggle sport, and we like to see preventing the very best. Turki is making that occur.
“Let’s thank him. When he talks about Canelo not eager to struggle Benavidez and outpricing himself. Even Turki is aware of that,” mentioned De La Hoya.
