IMAGO / ZUMA Press Wire

Canelo Alvarez Warned Against Making Important Mistake Against Terence Crawford

Originally posted on KO on SI | By Apratim Banerjee | Last updated Jun 23, 2025 5:00 PM ET

It's less than three months away from arguably the fight of the century, Canelo Alvarez vs Terence Crawford. Both fighters are elite among the elites in terms of their skills. However, the story of the fight has been Canelo's power against Crawford's skills.

Given 'Bud' is making a two weight jump, that isn't surprising. However, there's much more to the fight than vague analysis. While Canelo can rely on his power against anybody, doing so without caution against a craftsman like 'Bud' Crawford could mark his downfall.

That's according to lightweight contender Frank Martin. He has warned Canelo against trying to impose his will on Crawford too much during the September 13 contest at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

CANELO vs CRAWFORD! @Zuffa_Boxing is LIVE and FREE on @netflix Sept 13th! #CaneloCrawford pic.twitter.com/pPQfSGkVDZ
— danawhite (@danawhite) June 22, 2025

Speaking to FightHub TV, Martin said:

Canelo can't fight the styles that he has been fighting, though. He can't be so flat footed trying to walk Terence down. I feel Terence is too slick and too game of a fighter to just try to walk him down and big dog him. I don't think Terence gonna go for that. Canelo is gonna have to cut the ring off though, against Terence. If he just walks him down and tries to bully him, I feel like that ain't gonna work in his favor.

Canelo Alvarez has the power to change a fight with one shot. He has done so against Billy Joe Saunders, Jermell Charlo, and more. However, Terence Crawford is arguably a different breed and has 31 knockout wins of his own.

Crawford showed how good he is against Errol Spence Jr., putting on a one-sided beating against a fighter who was in the talks of being an all-time great. However, that was at 147 lbs. Crawford didn't look as good at 154 lbs in his last fight against Israil Madrimov, but he still won convincingly.

On the other hand, Canelo offers much more than his power for Crawford to worry about. He is an excellent counter puncher, has solid defense, and is a master of setting things up. Hence, it's hard to sway in favor of one or the other.