Hall of Fame trainer turned analyst Teddy Atlas has given a fresh take on the potential Terence Crawford vs Canelo Alvarez showdown.
The talk of ‘Bud’ taking on Canelo has dominated boxing over the past year, despite both men appearing to now target new opponents.
Crawford is in negotiations for a unification showdown with Sebastian Fundora, while Canelo has made it known he wants a rematch with former foe Dmitry Bivol.
Last time out, Crawford became WBA super-welterweight champion with a win over Israil Madrimov, and Atlas told Fight Hub TV that ‘Bud’ will have learnt a lot from that performance.
“Crawford is great. He has already grown, but don’t discount his first time at 154, there is a bit of growth there too. Even for the great Crawford.
He has never embarrassed the sport and you never hear anything bad, he behaves like a champion in and out the ring. I have to believe even he went into that fight with Madrimov and got some answers where a lot of people wrote off he’d win big.”
Atlas went on to explain that Crawford got a lot of ‘answers’ after competing at super-welterweight for the first time.
“He won the right way and solid enough, but I’m going to bet he got some answers that he didn’t even know he needed. He went into the fight assuming certain things like we all did because he’s so great, he got some questions asked that he didn’t expect to be on that test that night.
He got the answers at 154. He’s already got the answers at 130, 135, then 140 and 147. He hadn’t got them yet at the only place that works, the place of experience, in the ring.”
Atlas finished by revealing he expects to see an even better ‘Bud’ if he moves to super-middleweight to take on Canelo.
“He has those answers now, so I don’t think it’ll be the same Crawford when he steps up at 168 if it happens. He is going to be better than he’s been. It’s a Crawford that’s now armed with that information and more confidence.
“The thing that he needs in his mind is to add another belt to an already great collection. I’m going to handicap that, that’s how I’ll do it, don’t be so sure that the Crawford you saw with Madrimov is not going to be different, he will be different.”
Crawford’s next opponent is set to be announced soon, but he recently revealed a huge money offer he turned down to face one fighter in particular.
