Terence Crawford’s trainer, Brian ‘BoMac’ McIntyre, says Canelo Alvarez could be in trouble if he’s next for Bud if he’s victorious against WBA junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov on August 3rd in His Excellency Turki Alalshikh’s event on DAZN and ESPN+ PPV.
BoMac feels that Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs) will be his rhythm after winning against Madrimov (10-0-1, 7 KOs) and will use the momentum to beat Canelo at 168 in early 2025.
It’s not a given that Crawford will get the Canelo fight because the Mexican star has already said he’s not interested. BoMac and Crawford’s pipe dream of a Canelo fight might not materialize; they’ll need to come down to Earth and take a lesser fight for much smaller money than they’ve dreamed up.
Going into the August 3rd fight, the 36-year-old Crawford is ring rusty. He has not fought since last July, when he defeated Errol Spence, and that’s another long break for Terence.
“At 36 going into 37, his IQ is going to take him further because he’s in shape like he was 22,” said trainer Brian ‘BoMac’ McIntrye to Fighthype, talking about his belief that Terence Crawford is even better now than he was when he was younger.
Crawford isn’t in better shape now than when he was 22. That’s silly. He turns 37 in September, has been sitting for a year, and has been fighting only annually since 2020. He’s not better physically than he was 14 years ago.
“It’s his IQ that I’m looking at. He’s boxing smarter; he’s taking smart chances. We’re fighting a younger guy. Madrimov is 29. He’s coming. He’s got good footwork, good speed, and got good power. You put it in the box, check it off, and do what you got to do to get the win,” said BoMac
Crawford is a good boxer, but he must avoid getting hit cleanly by Madrimov because all that IQ will go down the drain. The physics involved with getting hit by a fighter with the kind of crushing force that Madrimov throws could negate the IQ of Crawford if he can’t pitch a defensive shutout.
“Canelo has been in the game long enough to know what he’s doing. If he [Crawford] do get the Canelo fight right after the Madrimov fight, he might just be in a bit of trouble because he [Crawford] has got into that rhythm, and he’s into his groove, and it’s a good thing for Terence,” said BoMac.
It sounds like BoMac is a little drunk on Crawford’s past successes against lesser opponents and believes he can do the same against elite-level fighters. The opposition Crawford has been fighting at 147, 140, and 135 has been unspectacular. None of them have been elite, and he’s taking a step up against Madrimov.
If he gets past him, he would be skipping the 160-ln division and the top contenders at 168, like David Benavidez, to challenge Canelo for his titles at super middleweight. It’s unlikely that Crawford will do anything but lose spectacularly.
“If he smells blood, I’m sure he’s going to go for it,” said BoMac when asked if he thinks Crawford can knock out Canelo. “Whoever Terence fights, it’s always his toughest fight, and then he goes and knocks them off with ease.”
It’s hard to imagine Crawford knocking out Canelo because he can’t fight him the way he did his last three opponents, Errol Spence, Shawn Porter, or David Avanesyan, without risking getting clipped. Crawford won’t knock out Canelo with a jab.
It’s nice for BoMac to dream of Crawford knocking out Canelo, but it’s likely to be the other way around if Terence fights aggressively. He won’t be the same fighter moving up to 168 that he was at 147, and he’ll be facing a much better talent than he did in his eight classes at 147 or in his one match at 154 against Madrimov.
“Then the other fighter has all kinds of excuses and this and that. We’re used to it by now,” said BoMac.
McIntrye doesn’t give out any names of the other fighters who have provided excuses after losses, but we know that Errol Spence had some involving his inactivity.
He hadn’t fought in 16 months going into his fight with Crawford last year and had taken off a lot of weight. He’d also been involved in a terrible car crash in 2019 and dealt with an eye injury.
Read the full article here
