Teddy Atlas Warns Canelo Alvarez That Sparring ‘Boots’ Could Backfire vs Terence Crawford

Teddy Atlas on Canelo Alvarez sparring 'Boots' for Terence Crawford

Images that surfaced on social media showed Canelo with a black eye following a sparring session with 'Boots' and rumors percolated that Ennis might have gotten the better of him during those sessions. Atlas thinks a veteran like Canelo shouldn't go hard in sparring.

Speaking on his show, Atlas said, "I don't want to leave it in the gym. I don't want to get into that kind of war in the gym. No, I want to have control of all aspects of what the hell I'm doing in the gym to get ready for one night."

Atlas points out that Canelo has had over 60 professional fights and is 35 years old. Hence, it's crucial to manage what he has left in the tank.

He said, "I wouldn't want wars with my guy who's been in 65 [67] fights. 34 [35] years old and getting ready for, you know, maybe well, he's been in a lot of big fights, but right now it's the biggest fight of his career. He's getting ready for this fight. I don't want, if I have an older car that's been that's got a lot of miles, on the odometer."

Terence Crawford's reaction to Canelo Alvarez sparring 'Boots'

Crawford, meanwhile, thinks Canelo sparring 'Boots' shows how serious the Mexican is about the clash. He said in a recent media scrum, "That goes to show how serious he’s taking me and how much he respects me. Because if I hadn’t fought anyone, if I was too small, if I was all these things that all the media say I was, then he wouldn’t need these guys to help prepare him to fight me."

Crawford also reckons that 'Boots' is not him and has a long way to go before accomplishing what he has done inside the ring.