Terence Crawford is gearing up for a mega-fight against Canelo Alvarez later this year.
It was announced earlier this year that the pound-for-pound stars had agreed to face each other after months of intense negotiations, which were led by Riyadh Season’s Turki Alalshikh.
The fight itself had reportedly been on the verge of falling through after it was revealed that Canelo was considering facing YouTube star turned professional fighter Jake Paul, but negotiations for that bout collapsed at the eleventh hour.
In an interview with Manouk Akopyan, Crawford was asked whether he believes Canelo is still in the peak of his career and stated that the 34-year-old has been ‘holding back’ over his last couple of outings but will be his ‘best ever’ against him.
“I think Canelo’s been holding back a lot in his last couple of fights. I don’t think that Canelo’s really been as excited to get up for those fights that he’s been getting up on.
I think he held Munguia, I think he could have done more damage but the respect that he had for Munguia he just you know really too much didn’t wanna hurt the kid.
I think with Berlanga it was what it was, he showed a dominant performance against Berlanga and he just felt like he didn’t have to do too much of nothing. I think with me he’s going to be the best Canelo we’ve seen yet.”
Before he can turn his attention to Crawford, Canelo is faced with the opportunity of becoming a two-time undisputed champion when he faces IBF champion William Scull in Riyadh on May 3.
The 34-year-old from Mexico is a heavy favourite going into the bout with Scull, who he was originally backed to fight last year before he opted to fight Edgar Berlanga Jr instead.
