For the past year, fans have talked about a potential fight between these two pound-for-pound greats. Crawford moved up to 154lbs in August, beating Israil Madrimov to win the WBA super-welterweight title. This win made Crawford a four-weight world champion, and he's said he's ready to jump up two more divisions to face Canelo.
Canelo, on the other hand, recently defended his WBC, WBA, and WBO super-middleweight titles at 168lbs. He won a unanimous decision against Edgar Berlanga in September.
Right now, neither Crawford nor Canelo have opponents lined up for 2025. But De La Hoya doesn't think a fight between them would be close. In an interview with Fight Hub TV, he explained why:
"At 154, [Crawford] didn't really look too dangerous up in the ring, against a beast. So imagine Canelo being the bigger guy, being a beast. I mean, come on, when has a smaller good guy ever beaten a good bigger guy. It's never happened in the history of the sport. It's rare."
De La Hoya pointed out that Crawford didn't look impressive in his 154lb debut. He also mentioned that Canelo's size and power would be too much for Crawford to handle.
It's worth noting that De La Hoya and Canelo aren't on good terms. But De La Hoya still gives an objective take on how the fight would go.
Crawford's former rival, Errol Spence Jr, has also shared his thoughts on how Crawford would do against Canelo. But that's a story for another day.