Canelo’s Style Tweak Could Avenge Crawford Loss

Eddie Hearn is the latest person who is interested in seeing a rematch between Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford. The Matchroom promoter Hearn says Canelo (63-3-2, 39 KOs) could surprise everybody by tweaking his fighting style for the second fight with Crawford (42-0, 31 KOs).

The Hook of Retirement

A second fight would make both fighters a lot of money. Fan interest would likely be higher for a rematch than the first fight because of the intrigue of whether Alvarez can avenge his defeat. The fans who believe Canelo will lose again will be hooked in because they want to see if Crawford will send him into retirement.

Canelo came close to defeating Crawford without adapting to switch to plan B when the fight began slipping away from him in rounds nine through twelve for their legacy clash on September 13 in Las Vegas. Bud won by a 12-round unanimous decision by the scores 115-113, 115-113, and 116-112.

Adapting to Avenge Defeat

“A rematch would be intriguing. Canelo might surprise everyone with tweaks to his style,” said Hearn to Sports Illustrated.

If Alvarez chooses to take the rematch, he can adapt, retool, and come with a whole new set of skills to make it a different fight. Crawford looked like he didn’t want to mix it up with Canelo while he was still fresh from 1 through 8.

He only showed courage in spurts beginning in the ninth. But even then, Crawford didn’t dare push his luck, knowing he could get clipped. He’d felt Canelo’s power and wasn’t going to change it by being stationary.

“A Canelo-Crawford rematch would be massive—let’s see if Canelo can avenge it,” said middleweight contender Chris Eubank Jr. to Sky Sports.

I believe that Crawford isn’t going to defend his four super middleweight titles against any of the contenders unless Turki Alalshikh offers him crazy money to fight one of the vulnerable ones, like Hamzah Sheeraz and Jermall Charlo. Those two are arguably the weakest link among the top guys. Crawford would have a chance against them.

Dangerous Opponents ‘Bud’ Will Avoid

In my estimation, the ones that Crawford won’t go near are from this group:

• Osleys Iglesias
• David Benavidez
• Dmitry Bivol
• Diego Pacheco
• Christian Mbilli
• Lester Martinez [Note: Crawford’s teammate]
• Bektemir Melikuziev

Those are some dangerous guys that could spoil Crawford’s unblemished record that he’s worked hard to keep unmarred.

“I would love to see the rematch! I think in the rematch, if he comes back with the hunger that he needs, he could beat Crawford!” said trainer Robert Garcia to Fighthype.