Countdown: Canelo vs. Crawford Episode 1 Recap

Contrast Canelo’s largesse with Crawford taking his 9-year-old son to a locally-owned indoor play park for his birthday, and the difference between the two men and their status, as well as the way they choose to spend their time and money, is obvious: Canelo is big time, and Crawford is down home.

While much of what is shared about Canelo and Crawford is relatively well-known to those who follow the sport, the backgrounds of both men will likely prove compelling to casual fans, and the unique footage of both men as boys learning the literal ropes of the fight game will appeal to boxing lifers. Canelo and Crawford similarly walked into a gym in their hometowns, and essentially never left. The people they met at a young age are still the people who surround them now.

From there, we get a quick version of each man’s greatest hits. From Canelo going pro at 15, to winning his first world title at 20 against Matthew Hatton, and then his impressive post-Hatton career. Crawford traded blows in the ring for the first time when he was just 8 years old. He struggled some as an amateur, but became an agent of destruction after turning pro at 20, crushing Yuriorkis Gamboa for his first title, and onto his brutal beating of Errol Spence Jr.

Crawford may not have been the prodigy that Canelo was as a youth, but he has certainly made up for lost time.

There are lighter moments in episode one as well. Such as boxing analyst Claudia Trejos referring to Canelo as “the most Irish-looking Mexican fighter you’ll ever see,” or Crawford giving his birthday boy a “whuppin’” with foam boxing sticks.

While neither man took the easy road, Countdown focuses more on Crawford’s rough upbringing in Omaha, Nebraska, surrounded by poverty and crime, and having regular appointments with “counselors and shrinks.” The series positions Canelo as the global superstar and Crawford as the working-class man. Both of those descriptions are equally true and reductive.

What is made evident in episode one is that these are two fighters with no false bravado. Their confidence is real, and both men remain deeply attached to their roots. They might fight in Vegas, but they haven’t gone Vegas.

They also exude calm. They believe that if they do what they are supposed to, they will win. That the fight is not in their opponent’s hands. It is in theirs.

Near the end of episode one, an interviewer asks Canelo if he generally likes or dislikes his opponents. He replies, “Generally, I don’t give a f*ck.” Crawford, who is moving up two weight classes to take on Canelo, doesn’t have a line so pithy, but like Canelo, he may understand the significance of who he is fighting, but he also sees that man as more of an obstacle than a human.

Jumping up that far in class should be foolish, but I’ll be damned if Crawford’s belief in himself doesn’t make you believe in him.