Shakur Stevenson reiterated today that Terence Crawford would beat Canelo Alvarez when they fight in September on the Mexican Independence Day weekend.
Describing Crawford as “unbelievable,” Shakur says he’s known that he could beat Canelo (62-2-2, 39 KOs) since way back in 2021 after he beat Shakur Porter.
Beating a past his best 34-year-old Porter in a close fight doesn’t translate to Crawford defeating Canelo. Those two different types of talents. Porter briefly held a world title during his career before he lost it and was more of a career gatekeeper than someone who would be a proper gauge to determine who could beat Canelo.
“Unbelievable” Crawford
“I think he’s unbelievable,” said Shakur Stevenson to Shawn Porter’s channel, talking about his close friend Terence Crawford. “I’m this nice [skills-wise] because of Bud. I got better over the years, not just being in the ring with him, but being outside of the ring, watching his demeanor, watching what he does in his sparring, watching his training camp and how hard he trains.
“I feel skills pay the bills. He’s not as little as people think,” said Shakur about people thinking Crawford is too small to move up another two weight divisions to challenge Canelo Alvarez for his unified super middleweight titles.
“People think he’s very small. He’s not as small as people think. It’s just that he looks like it. When you see him and he gets on the scale, you wouldn’t believe that’s his weight,” said Shakur about Crawford.
Shakur sounds like someone who has hero worship of his friend, Crawford, making him sound like he’s invincible. I’m just wondering who Shakur thinks Crawford can’t beat. With the praise that he’s constantly giving him, I wouldn’t be surprised if he thought he could beat Artur Beterbiev, Dmitry Bivol, and Jai Opetaia. I just hope Shakur doesn’t get too upset if Crawford loses to Canelo and is knocked out in the process. Seeing a false idol get beaten can sometimes be hard for a worshipper to take.
“I told somebody the other day that he might get on the scale weighing 166, 167, fighting Canelo, and people won’t believe how ripped up and cut up he’ll still look. He won’t look like an overweight Terence Crawford. He’s going to look like a solid Terence Crawford,” said Shawn Porter.
Crawford, 37, has the size to compete with Canelo but not the power, youth, or experience in that weight class. It would be nice if Crawford were willing to get a tune-up at 168 first before facing Canelo in September. Instead of sitting out of the ring for 13 months, waiting for that big payday against Canelo, taking a warm-up fight in April or May would be a good idea.
However, Terence likely doesn’t want to risk losing and messing up his money fight against Alvarez. There are rumors that Crawford will fight 39-year-old middleweight Sergiy Derevyanchenko (15-6, 10 KOs) to get his feet wet at 168. However, he’s not a true super middleweight, and he’s not young.
“I think he beats Canelo. I’ve been saying [that]. I remember when they fought [Crawford-Porter]. I said afterward, ‘Terence Crawford will beat Canelo,'” said Shakur. “A long time ago. There’s an abundance that Bud done took from me,” said Stevenson about Crawford having learned stuff from Shakur from their training.
A Student and a Teacher
“I took a lot of stuff from Bud, too. We just make each other better,” said Stevenson.
Hopefully, Crawford doesn’t use too much of the stuff that he learned from Shakur during the Canelo fight because fans are going to boo this fight, and be furious if he runs around the ring for 12 rounds like the Newark, New Jersey does in his fights.
Fans will purchase the Canelo-Crawford fight on PPV, believing they’ll see a fight and they’ll be angry if Crawford runs. People weren’t happy when Canelo fought former 154-lb undisputed champion Jermell Charlo in 2023 when he moved up to 168 and ran all night.
Jermell is bigger, stronger, and more of a brawler than Crawford. But when he got in there with Canelo, he took off running after getting a taste of his power in the first round. Crawford did a lot of moving in his fights against Viktor Postol, Shawn Porter, and Israil Madrimov. This could be really boring if Crawford thinks he’s going to just box for 12 rounds, hoping to win a decision against Canelo the way Floyd Mayweather Jr. did in 2013 in their 152-lb catchweight fight.
