Canelo Alvarez will defend his undisputed super-middleweight world championship against Crawford on Saturday, September 13, at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada. As the fight approaches, many fans have been curious about Canelo's famous power.
Smith addressed this common question in a recent interview. When asked if Canelo punches hard, Smith's answer was surprising.
"Okay, that's a question the average man asks me on the street, 'You fought Canelo, wow, does he punch hard?' and I'm like no. Going into round seven, you're feeling this now, because he's threw everything at me and hasn't budged me. Right, going to put my foot to the pedal and then round seven, boom, dropped me."
Smith explained that for the first six rounds of their fight, Canelo threw everything he had without moving him. It wasn't until the seventh round that Smith was dropped. He believes this was more due to a change in his own gameplan rather than Canelo's power.
The fight between Canelo and Smith took place in September 2016 at AT&T; Stadium in Texas. It was Smith's third WBO world title defense and ended up being his first professional defeat. Canelo won by a 9th round stoppage, dropping Smith with a left hook to the body.
Since then, Canelo has moved up in weight and faced some of boxing's biggest names. He's scored notable victories over Gennady Golovkin, Sergey Kovalev, and Miguel Cotto. However, he hasn't had a stoppage win since his 2021 fight against Caleb Plant.
As Canelo approaches the twilight of his career, this upcoming fight against Crawford has generated a lot of interest. Crawford, known for his skills, will be moving up in weight to challenge the Mexican superstar.
The fight promises to be an interesting clash of styles and weight classes. Fans will be eager to see if Canelo's power, which Smith downplayed, will be a factor against the skillful Crawford.
You can watch Liam Smith's full interview and hear more of his thoughts on Canelo in this video.