Only two men have been able to beat Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, and one coach has revealed his game plan that scored his fighter’s surprise victory.
Terence Crawford wants to add his name to the list of boxers who have beaten Canelo Alvarez on 13 September when he rolls the dice to try and become the undisputed super middleweight champion.
In 41 fights, no one has beaten ‘Bud’, successfully moving up through four weight classes to win titles and two undisputed championships.
Canelo has also had a fantastic career despite his losses, winning titles in five weight classes and becoming the king of the 168 lb division.
I coached the last fighter to beat Canelo Alvarez – Terence Crawford should use the same game plan
One of his defeats was against the legend of the sport, Floyd Mayweather, when the Mexican was just 23 years old.
It was a bruising loss for the young fighter, who was outclassed by the more experienced, undefeated star, Mayweather, who won a majority decision, with one judge scoring the fight a draw.
But it was his 2022 defeat to the undisputed light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol where the fighter struggled to make his mark.
Bivol won a unanimous decision by 115-113 on the scorecards in one of his best career displays.
The Russian was helped by coach Joel Diaz, who implemented the winning game plan, which stifled the modern great.
During an interview with Fino Boxing, Diaz described what fighters need to do when they face Alvarez, which could be useful to Crawford on Saturday night.
He explained: “You frustrate Canelo, you beat him. You frustrate him first.
“We started working on it, and one of the main keys was to keep jabbing him. Keep jabbing him. Don’t stop jabbing. Canelo always tries to hit you in the arm to wear (you) down. And if you watch the fight, I had a bag of ice all the time on his arm for the whole fight.”
The coach also noted the moment he knew Bivol needed to stick with the game plan, despite some in the corner wanting to change tactics.
“In the second round, I know facial expressions. When Canelo was trying to get in and he couldn’t get in and coming back, and he started making different (faces), I said, ‘You know what? He’s frustrated’,” he said.
“There was a point where they wanted to send Bivol to knock out Canelo. (I said) No, stop. Let’s keep him where he is because one knockdown will take the fight away from us… Bivol executes plans really well.”
Dmitry Bivol’s statistics show the extent of his dominant Canelo Alvarez victory
The work rate on display from the WBA champion helped him pull off the upset win.
According to CompuBox, Bivol threw an average of 59 punches a round, 18 more than his opponent over the course of 12 rounds.
It was also a defensive masterclass from the light heavyweight star, who was able to give Alvarez, at the time, his lowest punch connection number (84) of his career.
Bivol threw a mammoth 418 jabs. If Crawford can somehow replicate this level of work rate with his lead hand, he may have a strong chance of victory.