Stevenson: Crawford’s power overwhelms Canelo, I said it since 2021

Shakur Stevenson says he believes Terence Crawford has the style of defeating Canelo Alvarez, even before Dmitry Biboll did that a few years ago. Stevenson says he doesn’t think Canelo can move forward on his own as he sees Crawford hurt the heavyweights.

Stevenson says he began to believe Crawford would beat Canelo in 2021 when he fought welterweight Shakur Porter. He felt that Porter, 34 at the time, was a suitable gauge for predicting Crawford’s performance in 168 the three divisions mentioned above.

Loyalty and logic

Crawford, 37, will be taking on Canelo at 168 on September 13th. Despite the two divisions rising in weight, Shakur does not see it as a Terrence issue. He says he believes Crawford is the best fighter in the super middleweight division for many years.

WBC lightweight champion Stephenson said it’s not a problem that Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) is up two divisions from 154 to 168, challenging the unified champion Canelo (62-2-2, 38 KOs).

“I’ve been putting it out since Crawford fought Sean Porter (welterweight in 2021). Terrence Crawford said he defeated Canelo Alvarez (age 34) after he fought,” Shakur Stephenson said. Ring MagazineHe revealed that Terrence Crawford predicted he would defeat Canelo four years ago.

It is reasonable to assume that Shakur’s view on Canelo Crawford’s battle is influenced by his intimate friendship with him and his loyalty to him. That’s natural. He clearly wants to see Crawford get this opportunity given to him without gaining it in the other fighter ways.

Heavyweight claim

“I felt it with that weight class (168), Terrence Crawford is the best,” Shakur said of how Crawford felt he was the best in the super middleweight division without fighting there. “In Canelo’s style, I feel this was before (Dmitry) Biboll did that. I felt that Terence Crawford was the only guy who could defeat Canelo in his style.

“Even before Budd said that, I’ve said that. The bud is a southpaw. He makes being a southpaw difficult for Canelo,” Shakur continued to praise Crawford. “After I saw him fight John Ryder, he’s had problems with them. He wasn’t that good. It’s just that Canelo was fighting Southpaws.

“How does Canelo handle the power of the bud? When Bud attacks him, he just moves forward and takes a punch? I don’t know. I saw Bud hurt the heavyweights,” Shakur said.

If Shakur believes Crawford is the best fighter in the 168 years, why isn’t he going up to test himself? He could do it a few years ago and was able to make much more money than welterweight. The only big money fight Crawford had at the 147 was Errol Spence. As Shakur argues, if he could beat all the super middleweight years, why didn’t he do that?

Crawford is unable to hurt Isler Madrimov with a punch in his final fight at 154, and he is not close to heavyweight. If he had the power to injure the heavyweights, he would have shown it to Madrimov.