Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford is just over a week away.
Two of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the sport will collide when Alvarez puts his undisputed super-middleweight crown on the line against Crawford at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on September 13.
Crawford will be attempting to do something that only other men have managed to do during Canelo’s 67-fight career by claiming a victory over the Mexican superstar.
One of the fighters that managed to do that was Dmitry Bivol, who claimed a unanimous decision win when defending his WBA light heavyweight title against Alvarez in May 2022.
The man who was in the corner with Bivol that evening was Joel Diaz, while he also was the trainer of Israil Madrimov when he lost his WBA super-welterweight title to Crawford in August 2024.
Having experienced first hand what it is like to train fighters to face both Alvarez and Crawford, Diaz told The Ring that he sees the Mexican icon claiming the win next week.
“Canelo should win. I see him beating Crawford by a convincing decision. There is no way Crawford beats Canelo. Canelo is the king of the sport, and business-wise, he can’t lose. If he loses, boxing loses a lot of prestige.
“But don’t get me wrong, Crawford is one of my favourite fighters and pound-for-pound the best of this era. The fight will be interesting and back and forth for the first four rounds.
“Canelo has been hit by heavy hitters and never even flinched. As soon as Canelo feels that Crawford doesn’t have what it takes to hurt him, he is going to walk him down.”
Diaz then explained what he thinks will be the biggest factor in the bout.
“Crawford will make it a fight and fight back, but he’s a smart fighter and will play it safe once he’s hurt – that’s when Alvarez will take over.
“Crawford is not going to be exchanging punches with Canelo in the middle of the ring. “We’ve seen Crawford get buckled before, and believe me, Canelo hits harder than Yuriorkis Gamboa and Egidijus Kavaliauskas.”
With just days to go until fight night, all will soon be revealed just who comes out on top in the highly-anticipated mega-fight.
