Top Boxing Coach Once Called Canelo vs Terence Crawford ‘a Ridiculous Fight’
The prospective super-fight between the four-weight world boxing champion Terence Crawford, and the world super middleweight king Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, is gaining momentum, and could take place as early as September, according to one report by The Ring.
The bout was once panned by one of the sport’s premier coaches as its “not a real fight,” according to Abel Sanchez, renowned for helping guide and develop the bruising middleweight juggernaut Gennadiy Golovkin, who enjoyed a back-and-forth trilogy for the ages with Canelo.
Sanchez, speaking to KO Sports TV late, last year, called the fight a “ridiculous” one because of the 14-pound weight gap that exists between the super welterweight, and super middleweight.
Top Boxing Coach Unimpressed by Canelo vs Crawford
While it’s undeniably a money fight, according to Abel Sanchez, it’s still ridiculous
Though Sanchez was respectful of both Crawford, and Canelo, the coach — who has also worked with Murat Gassiev and Joe Joyce, among others — believes that the difference between the 154-pound Crawford, and 168-pound Canelo, is too great of a weight gap for the lighter fighter to overcome, thus giving the Mexican an advantage when it comes to strength and bruising power.
Crawford, Sanchez said, is still the same fighter he was at lightweight, super lightweight, and welterweight, even though he now boxes at super welterweight. This is a contrast to Canelo because he’s continued to develop as he’s traversed through boxing’s divisions, according to Sanchez.
“I said it a while ago, Crawford is a great fighter, but he’s been the same fighter from 135 to 147, he’s still the same fighter, he hasn’t changed anything to make him viable at the bigger weights,” said Sanchez. “But Canelo has.”
He continued: “Crawford hasn’t been destroying his opponents, he destroyed one who was a shell of his former self, but Canelo is destroying everybody that he fights, destroying them, but Crawford’s not.
The fight might not happen immediately. Canelo has, of course, been linked with a mandatory challenger to one of his belts, called William Scull, who is a Cuban boxer that bookmakers and fans regard as a wild underdog, should the Canelo fight ever materialize. Even Matchroom boss Eddie Hearn speculated that, if Canelo and Crawford were to throw down, then it would only make sense for September and, specifically, in Las Vegas.
