Timothy Bradley Jnr wants Canelo Alvarez-Terence Crawford, favors Crawford

Hall of Famer and ESPN boxing analyst Timothy Bradley Jnr favors Terence Crawford in a matchup with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.

“Everyone keeps talking about the weight,” Bradley said – and indeed, Crawford only recently left welterweight for 154lbs, while Alvarez has fought at 168lbs since late 2020. “‘Oh, he gonna knock him out. …’ When the hell was the last time Canelo knocked somebody out?”

It has been a while. Alvarez last scored a stoppage against Caleb Plant in November 2021. Since then, he has failed to knock out established foes Dmitry Bivol (in a loss) and a 40-year-old Gennady Golovkin. But he also has gone the distance with opponents thought to be nowhere near his skill level, such as John Ryder, Jaime Munguia and Edgar Berlanga. Jermell Charlo, naturally a junior middleweight, also went the distance with Canelo – though he was not remotely competitive with the super middleweight king. 

“Y’all can quit with that, ‘He’s gonna knock Crawford out.’ Come on, man,” Bradley said. “Didn’t we just see somebody [Oleksandr Usyk] fight a guy [Tyson Fury[ who was – quote, unquote – 50 pounds heavier? Canelo’s the same height [as Crawford]. … He’s not a natural 168lbs!

“[Usyk] is a great fighter! Absolutely! But you know who else is a great one, is Crawford. The great ones know how to figure it out.”

Bradley highlighted Crawford’s 74in reach – three and a half longer than Canelo’s – and his ability to reduce opponents’ output with his counterpunching. Alvarez is already a low-output fighter. Bradley thinks Crawford can win a decision by working from distance, using straight shots in-between Alvarez’s looping hooks and tiring Canelo out down the stretch. 

“Don’t go running away from the fight now, Canelo,” Bradley said, referring to the unified super middleweight titleholder’s apparent avoidance of David Benavidez. Imitating Canelo’s higher-pitched voice, Bradley said, “Remember what you said: ‘Easy fight, easy fight, easy fight, easy fight!’”

Though a cluster of analytical boxing minds share Bradley’s opinion, most in the fight game believe the size and power difference is too great for Crawford to impose his skills.

Bradley, known for his strong points of view, is confident in his unpopular take: “I’m gonna get back to my Haterade,” he announced towards the end of the video, sipping his drink. “You already know.”

Whether the boxing world will get to know what a Canelo-Crawford matchup would seem to be up to Alvarez.

Owen Lewis is a former intern at Defector media and writes and edits for BoxingScene. His beats are tennis, boxing, books, travel and anything else that satisfies his meager attention span. He is on Bluesky.