Antonio Tarver Predicts Canelo Will Lose To Terence Crawford If Crawford Withstands Power At 168 Lbs

Commentator Antonio Tarver predicts that Canelo Alvarez will lose to Terence Crawford if he can handle his power on September thirteenth. The one query that Tarver has for this fight is whether or not Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) can handle Canelo’s power at 168, because he’s essentially jumping up three weight classes.

Crawford Must Handle Canelo’s Power

Terence’s one fight at 154 against Israil Madrimov last August wasn’t enough to call him, having moved as much as that weight class. It takes a couple of fight, and he didn’t fight any of the killers in that division to point out that he belongs at junior middleweight.

Tarver notes that the last time he saw a version of Canelo (63-2-2, 39 KOs) that might beat Crawford was when he fought Caleb Plant in 2021. Nonetheless, he’s not even sure that version of Canelo would beat Crawford.

“If he shows up like he did against Scull, Berlanga, and Munguia, [he’s going to lose]. He didn’t have enough activity,” said Tarver to K.O. Artist Sports about Canelo failing to let his hands go often enough in those fights.

Canelo didn’t must throw a whole lot of punches in his last three fights, because those were so overmatched that he could do the minimum. Those fighters should never have been ranked high in the primary place, given their weak resumes and limited talent.

Plant Fight: Peak Canelo

“The last time I saw Canelo, that might beat this Crawford was Plant. Now, if that Canelo comes, it’s going to be a hell of a fight. I give Crawford a probability even then. So, that’s the kind of talent I believe Crawford is,” said Tarver.

I disagree with Tarver. There’s no difference between the Canelo that fought Caleb Plant and the way he looked against Scull. The one difference is that Skull wasn’t willing to exchange punches the way in which Plant did. His constant movement limited the opportunities that Canelo needed to punch, but he still took advantage of the times Scull would stop moving to land big, eye-catching shots.

“He’s going to must get used to that power. If he can take Canelo’s power, he’s going to win the fight,” said Tarver about Crawford.

Ideally, Crawford must have moved as much as 168 to take a tune-up against a top 15 contender late last 12 months when it was clear that Turki Alalshikh was going to make the fight with Canelo.

Getting used to Canelo’s power through the fight goes to be difficult for Crawford. He’s not young and is coming off a year-long layoff. He’s been too inactive for the last five years since 2020, fighting just five times.