Antonio Tarver Predicts Canelo Will Lose To Terence Crawford If Crawford Withstands Power At 168 Lbs

Commentator Antonio Tarver predicts that Canelo Alvarez will lose to Terence Crawford if he can handle his power on September 13th. The only question that Tarver has for this fight is whether Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) can handle Canelo’s power at 168, because he’s essentially jumping up three weight classes.

Crawford Must Handle Canelo’s Power

Terence’s one fight at 154 against Israil Madrimov last August wasn’t enough to call him, having moved up to that weight class. It takes more than one fight, and he didn’t fight any of the killers in that division to show that he belongs at junior middleweight.

Tarver notes that the last time he saw a version of Canelo (63-2-2, 39 KOs) that would beat Crawford was when he fought Caleb Plant in 2021. However, he’s not even sure that version of Canelo would beat Crawford.

“If he shows up like he did against Scull, Berlanga, and Munguia, [he’s going to lose]. He didn’t have enough activity,” said Tarver to K.O. Artist Sports about Canelo failing to let his hands go often enough in those fights.

Canelo didn’t have to throw a lot of punches in his last three fights, because those were so overmatched that he could do the minimum. Those fighters should never have been ranked high in the first place, given their weak resumes and limited talent.

Plant Fight: Peak Canelo

“The last time I saw Canelo, that would beat this Crawford was Plant. Now, if that Canelo comes, it’s going to be a hell of a fight. I give Crawford a chance even then. So, that’s the type of talent I think Crawford is,” said Tarver.

I disagree with Tarver. There’s no difference between the Canelo that fought Caleb Plant and how he looked against Scull. The only difference is that Skull wasn’t willing to exchange punches the way Plant did. His constant movement limited the opportunities that Canelo had to punch, but he still took advantage of the times Scull would stop moving to land big, eye-catching shots.

“He’s going to have to get used to that power. If he can take Canelo’s power, he’s going to win the fight,” said Tarver about Crawford.

Ideally, Crawford should have moved up to 168 to take a tune-up against a top 15 contender late last year when it was clear that Turki Alalshikh was going to make the fight with Canelo.

Getting used to Canelo’s power during the fight is going to be difficult for Crawford. He’s not young and is coming off a year-long layoff. He’s been too inactive for the last five years since 2020, fighting just five times.