Terence Crawford has fought some of the best the sport has to offer, and his last opponent is no different.
It is less than a week until boxing fans will see the biggest fight of the year on 13 September when Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez defends his undisputed super middleweight championship against the pound-for-pound star Crawford.
The preparations for the contest have been a point of debate, but Canelo’s use of secret sparring weapon Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis shows that he is taking the fight seriously.
This will be the fifth weight class ‘Bud’ Crawford has competed in during his illustrious career, and it could be his record-breaking third undisputed title win.
Terence Crawford’s last opponent has already given his Canelo Alvarez fight prediction
After dispatching Julius Indongo early in their 2017 140 lb undisputed fight and stopping then-undefeated American star Errol Spence Jr for the welterweight belts, he became the first male to achieve the feat of becoming a two-weight undisputed champion in the four-belt era.
His championship pedigree does not end there, as his most recent achievement of becoming a four-division world champion against Israil Madrimov puts him in the conversation with the sport’s elites.
While he may have been pushed to the limit in his 2024 victory over the Uzbek boxer, he still managed to beat him by unanimous decision on the scorecards.
Madrimov has already given his prediction on the fight between the two greats before his Vergil Ortiz Jr fight earlier this year.
During an interview with Fight Hub TV, he said: “(It is a) good fight. If 168 lbs, I think it’s Canelo because Canelo has better technique.
“If 12 rounds, Crawford wins. If knockout, it’s Canelo.”
The fighter also gave three areas that gave the undefeated champion the edge in their contest last year.
“He has power, he is smart, he has more experience,” Madrimov said.
Israil Madrimov lost his last fight to a rising star with a 90% knockout ratio
‘The Dream’ has not won since losing to Crawford, and in his last fight, he was outclassed by the powerful puncher Vergil Ortiz Jr.
They fought on the undercard of Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol’s rematch, with the 30-year-old Madrimov successful in the early rounds.
But the power and supreme skills of Ortiz allowed him to take over the fight.
The Texan fought with spite and rocked the former WBA super welterweight titleholder on multiple occasions to win a unanimous decision on the scorecards.
He won the WBC interim super welterweight title, but he has yet to face the current world champion, Sebastian Fundora, who is scheduled to face Keith Thurman in October.