Canelo Alvarez‘s career suffered a major setback in September when he lost to Terence Crawford in their super-middleweight encounter.
Entering their contest as the undisputed champion at 168lbs, many felt that Canelo’s physical advantages would prove too significant for his naturally smaller opponent to cope with.
As it turned out though, Crawford produced one of his career-best performances to outfox and often frustrate the Mexican through large spells of their showdown.
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It soon became clear that ‘Bud’ was not only in possession of the more calculated strategy, but also had the right temperament and technical advantages to put his gameplan into action.
It came as no surprise when Crawford was announced as the unanimous decision winner and in turn cemented his legacy by becoming a three-division undisputed champion.
That achievement is remarkable in itself, but even more impressive was the optics of a 38-year-old, seemingly coming towards the end of his career, being able to clinically dismantle his much bigger rival.
It would appear that there is not so much a particular attribute for Crawford, but rather a well-rounded approach, that almost makes him the full package. That much, at least, was expressed by Canelo during their post-fight press conference. When asked why he fell short on the night, Canelo simply put it down to not being able to figure out his opponent’s style.
“We knew Crawford is a great fighter. I did what I was supposed to do I tried every way.
I tried very hard. He deserves all the credit. I tried my best. I just couldn’t figure out his style.
He has everything.”
Crawford’s skills could be about to be put to the test again, with a potential move down to middleweight on the cards as he sets his sights on one man in particular.
