Terence Crawford looked all of his age in his last fight against Israil Madrimov in his debut at 154 last August. For the 37-year-old Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) to have a chance of beating the 26-year-old Sebastian Fundora for his WBC and WBO junior middleweight titles, he’s going to have to find a higher gear because he’s going to be facing a punching machine in the form of the 6’6″ fighter.
To defeat Fundora, Crawford will either need to knock him out or outpunch him, which he’s not capable of doing. He’s never been a fighter that averages 80+ punches thrown per round. He’s always been more of a Shakur Stevenson type, throwing a limited number of punches and focusing on movement.
Crawford appears to have given up on facing Canelo Alvarez at 168 for his three belts. There’s been no movement in that direction, and Canelo has expressed no desire to throw a bone to the Nebraska native to give him a title shot just for the sake of creating a celebrity style matchup.
“Crawford-Fundora, I would like to see that, but those younger fighters got a different gear,” said Hank Lundy to Fighthype, talking about a potential fight between Terence Crawford and WBC and WBO junior middleweight champion Sebastian Fundora.
If Crawford were capable of fighting a different gear, he would have shown it in his last fight against Israil Madrimov or any of his other contests during his 16-year career. He can’t do that, and definitely won’t be able to it now at 37.
“You got to think about it. When you’re a seasoned vet, it takes a couple of rounds to get to them,” said Lundy. “But those younger fighters are in a different gear. I can really say that. They’re 100 from the first round. It ain’t that way no more. You got to go 12 rounds or less to get warmed up.
“Listen, I don’t start warming up until after the fifth round.”
“What will determine the fight is who wants it most, and who has the better fight plan,” said Roy Jones Jr. to Fight Hub TV about who would win between Crawford and Canelo Alvarez. “To me, I don’t care what they say; if Bud can get Canelo to box him, he’ll beat him.
Crawford Reached His Ceiling
“Without question, it’s competitive. What he showed in the Madrimov fight is that he can take a punch at 154,” said Jones Jr. about Crawford, showing that his chin could hold up when he fought WBA junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov on August 3rd.
Crawford showed that he could eat a lot of punches against Madrimov to win a close decision, but it wasn’t the impressive performance that he needed to show that he was ready to face Canelo Alvarez two divisions above at 168.
The fight showed that Crawford had reached his ceiling for what he was capable of doing. When he barely beat Madrimov, it signaled that Crawford wasn’t young, strong, or big enough to move beyond the 154-lb division.
“So, now, can he take it at 168? It’s yet to be seen. Why? What does he got to prove to Boots?” said Jones Jr. about Crawford not needing to fight Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis. “Boots has got to take over and start beating the guys around him to prove that he’s the best of that group.
“Bud is in a group above him. He doesn’t need to come back down to 147 to fight him. That’s crazy. Bud is trying to make history and get out. Get his big bank and get out. His big bank is who? Canelo. He’s willing to take that gamble and see if he can beat him. If he beats him, he may go fight Benavidez next. If he don’t beat him, ‘Okay, I took this as high as I can go. I’m done,” said Roy.
Crawford looks bad that he moved up to 154 without defending against his IBF mandatory Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis. That made Crawford look like he was afraid of Boots, who would have easily been the toughest opponent of his career. You can’t count Errol Spence because he wasn’t the same fighter after his car crash in 2019, injuries, inactivity, and weight issues.
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