Terence Crawford is getting ready for a big fight with Canelo Alvarez. The two champions might face off in September in Las Vegas, but it all depends on Canelo beating William Scull on May 3 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Crawford, known as "Bud," is moving up in weight for this potential fight. He's not worried about knocking out Canelo. Instead, he's focusing on winning the fight.
Crawford shared his thoughts on Canelo's recent fights with The Ring.
"Canelo has been holding back a lot in his last fights. I think he held back with Munguia, he just didn't want to hurt him. With Berlanga, he just felt he didn't have to do too much. With Charlo, he really didn't feel the need to go in and just massacre him. With me, he'll be the best Canelo we've seen so far."
When it comes to his game plan, Crawford kept it simple in an interview with Manouk Akopyan.
"I don't have to knock him out, I just have to beat him. Could it happen? Yes, absolutely. But I'm not going in looking to knock Canelo out."
Crawford broke down Canelo's success in moving up weight classes.
"He's a 'little big' moving up divisions, but those bigger guys are slower. They can hit him hard, but he's able to roll the impact because he's coming from a lower weight class, where everything was faster and more accurate."
Crawford wrapped up his thoughts with a realistic view of the fight.
"He's not a machine, he's human like me, he bleeds like me. I won't go in there thinking 'I can't hurt him', but I won't go in there thinking 'I'll try to knock him out' either."
This fight will be a big deal if it happens. It's not often we see top boxers from different weight classes go head-to-head. Crawford believes he can bring out the best in Canelo, and fans will get to see if he's right.
