Terence Crawford’s trainer, Brian ‘BoMac’ McIntyre, says the game plan they’ll use to defeat superstar Canelo Alvarez is to make him move and box him for 12 rounds. He says it would be an “easier” fight for Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) than his last one against Israil Madrimov on August 3rd.
Mayweather-esque Tactics
Coach BoMac wants it to be a tactical fight, keeping Canelo (61-2-2, 39 KOs) on the move constantly to prevent him from sitting down on his punches with full power. In other words, it would be a boring fight like Crawford’s match with Madrimov, which was booed by fans at the BMO Stadium in Los Angeles.
Crawford took no risks in the fight after tasting Madrimov’s power early on and played it safe to win a narrow 12-round decision.
BoMac says he’s unsure if Crawford, 36, will fight again if he can’t get the Canelo match. He wants that one for “legacy” purposes. If the fight doesn’t happen, Crawford’s fight against Madrimov will have been his last, and he’ll have to live with that performance.
It was not a great one, but it shows that Crawford was never as good as fans thought. Let’s be real. He beat a bunch of older and lesser fighters, and the only real name on his resume was Errol Spence, who was nowhere near the fighter he’d once been after his terrible car crash in 2019.
“Canelo stands in front of you. It would be easier to box him [than Israil Madrimov]. I wouldn’t even think about power. Just box him and add up the points as the rounds go on,” said Brian ‘BoMac’ McIntyre to the Luke Thomas YouTube channel about how his fighter, Terence Crawford, would fight Canelo Alvarez.
“Use a little side-to-side movement and try to get him to move his [Canelo] feet so he won’t be set when he gets ready to punch. You got to fight on your toes with the side-to-side movement,” BoMac said about how Crawford would need to fight Canelo.
BoMac spells out how Crawford will fight Canelo: He’ll use the Mayweather blueprint by making it boring. That won’t even be worth watching for fans, especially if they have to pay a lot to see it on PPV.
Canelo’s Options: Bigger and Better Fights at 175
It would be more entertaining for fans to see Canelo move up to 175 to take on the winner of the Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol undisputed light heavyweight clash. Can you imagine what a fight would look like between Canelo and the unbeaten knockout artist Beterbiev?
That would be hugely exciting because Beterbiev would try to knock out Canelo, a pure slug-fest. It wouldn’t be a tactical fight like it would be if Canelo fought the mover Crawford.
“Guys like that, you got to get them to move their feet. Get them to come to you a little bit. The guy that beat him, Bivol. Just like that. Box him,” said BoMac, giving an example of a fighter who had success boxing Canelo with movement. “He moved a little bit. He made Canelo move his feet.
“He mentioned it a couple of times. Let the dust settle a little bit and see where he’s at after a couple of months go by,” said BoMac when asked about Crawford potentially not fighting ever again unless he can get the Canelo fight. That’s the only one he wants.
Method to Boost Crawford’s Appeal
It sounds like we’ve seen the last of Crawford because the Canelo fight doesn’t seem like it will happen. If the Omaha, Nebraska native Crawford wanted to increase his chances of landing the Canelo golden parachute, he’d step up to the plate and fight one of these killers:
- Vergil Ortiz Jr.
- David Benavidez
- David Morrell Jr.
- Sebastian Fundora
- Tim Tszyu
- Serhii Bohachuk
Staying out of the ring, holding out for the Canelo cash-out fight to fall into lap, will hurt Crawford’s popularity, such as it is. The reality is Crawford isn’t a PPV draw within the U.S., as the casual boxing fans don’t know who he is, and the ones that do hate his safety-first fighting style. He’s got a lot of Shakur Stevenson in him with how he fights, and that’s not what the boxing demographic in the U.S. is interested in seeing or paying for.
“He told me the same thing he’s been telling the world. ‘That’s the fight that I want [Canelo]. I want to put a stamp on my legacy, and I want to go out on top,’” said BoMac about Crawford, saying he only wants Canelo and nobody else.
Unless His Excellency Turki Alalshikh can make it worthwhile for Canelo to fight the seemingly desperate and spoiled Crawford, that fight won’t happen. However, it doesn’t look like it will because Canelo wants $150 million smackers for that match, which could be out of Turki’s price range.
Crawford’s last fight against Madrimov reaffirmed that he’s not a draw and would not help Canelo bring in the PPV buys. It would just be Canelo bringing in the fans, with Crawford, being useless and deadweight, coming along for the ride.
Canelo can fight anyone and bring in buys. He doesn’t need to fight a guy who will bore the crowd by running all night like Crawford.
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