Demetrius Andrade thinks Canelo Alvarez is too big, strong, and technical for Terence Crawford to move up to super middleweight and challenge him for his three titles the way he’s pushing for.
Too Big, Too Strong
The former two-division world champion Andrade feels it’s too much size for the 37-year-old Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) to move up two weight classes from 154 to have a chance of defeating WBA, WBC, and WBO 168-lb champion Canelo (62-2-2, 39 KOs).
The Nebraska native, Crawford, is campaigning to move up to 168 to fight Canelo without any experience in the weight class first. He just wants the world title shot given to him without providing himself first by beating the top contenders waiting in line, like David Morrell, David Benavidez, Christian Mbilli, and Diego Pacheco.
There wouldn’t be a problem if Terence were willing to earn the title shot by beating those four fighters standing in front of him, but he doesn’t want to do that. He wants Canelo to right him based on his credentials from what he did in the other weight classes.
If you look at Crawford’s resume, there’s not much there for the eye to see other than beating the car crash, injury-wrecked Errol Spence. The other semi-decent win on Crawford’s resume came against Israil Madrimov, but he almost lost to him and looked poor, eating right hands all night.
Crawford moved up to 154 last summer on August 3rd and scrapped by with a narrow 12-round unanimous decision win over Madrimov. That was a fight that Terence could have easily lost if Madrimov had put his foot on the accelerator in the final three rounds of choosing to throw potshots. Even in defeat, Madrimov made Crawford look old and made it clear that he’d reached his ceiling. He can’t go past at 154 to 160 or 168 without losing.
Canelo’s Advantages
“Yeah, I believe so. I love Crawford. He’s a good friend, and we reach out to each other. But when it comes to weight and power, that s*** is real,” said Demetrius Andrade to Fight Hub TV when asked if Canelo Alvarez is too big for Terence Crawford.
“Skills, too. Canelo is not a pushover. Look what he did to the little girl, [Jermell] Charlo. Charlo was the big bad wolf and he ran the whole night off a couple of hooks. Canelo threw a couple of hooks, and he just ran all night. Where’s that [the intensity and bravery]? Let’s fight.
“I think Crawford has the skills, but when it comes to getting shots and blocking them, power shots, and Canelo knows how to move too. He has agility. He’s not like a robot. It’s going to be tough. My opinion is my opinion. I don’t think Crawford can beat Canelo,” said Andrade.
Crawford is too small to fight at 168 against Canelo. The fight would be about money only, and it would be similar to when Canelo defended his super middleweight title against Jermell Charlo last year in September. Jermell moved up from 154 and was given a title shot against Canelo without proving himself.
He ran all night after feeling Canelo’s power in the first round, and the fans felt ripped off afterward. It was a joke. If Jermell had tried to prove himself by fighting Benavidez or Morrell, he would have been weeded out in a one-sided loss or knockout defeat, and fans wouldn’t have been ripped off seeing him get to Canelo. In the real world, Crawford would have to earn the title shot against Canelo like other contenders, but he’s looking for a shortcut to get the giant payday. It’s pathetic and wrong for the sport.
“Do I think he can give him a good fight? I’ll be sitting there rooting for Crawford all day,” said Andrade about Crawford. “I’m always going to bet on black, always, but the reality of it is that Canelo knows how to fight. He knows how to come in big, and he knows how to throw hard shots.
“He’s a technical guy, too. Look what he did to Callum Smith—hitting elbows, hitting arms, hitting all those other kinds of stuff. He’s going to use those same tactics on a smaller guy [Crawford]. I’m just saying. I’m just talking real boxing facts. I’m not trying to be in this fantasy world because it’s not what I’m in,” said Andrade.
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