Former champion Keith Thurman has his own title fight on the horizon when he’ll take on Sebastian Fundora, but here he talks to Chris Mannix and Sergio Mora about this weekend’s big fight between Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford. Here’s how he breaks down the fight through his eyes.
“Canelo Alvarez is not, was not, and will not ever be an unbeatable fighter,” Thurman said. “That’s fine. None of us are really unbeatable but people have to understand this. Canelo Alvarez is not an unbeatable fighter, the question is whoever he’s fighting we don’t question what Canelo’s going to do, right? We question what his opponents are going to do. It’s not even really about Canelo, Canelo’s going to show up as Canelo Alvarez.
“The question is ‘are you going to beat him and are you going to beat him today?’…I thought Danny Jacobs was going to have a way better performance…I never seen someone make Danny Jacobs miss so many punches, it was highly impressive. I did not expect that because of the amateur pedigree, growing up with Danny Jacobs I know exactly what kind of New York fighter he is.
“And then the other one that surprised me in Canelo’s career is when he defeated Erislandy Lara…I did not give him a thought that he’s got this fight. I thought, ‘nah, this is a bad setup, this boxer has what it takes to outbox a Canelo Alvarez.’ You can have what it takes, are you going to do it? Are you going to execute? Are you going to not be scared, are you going to not be timid? Are you going to not waste time?
“Victory comes in preparation. The only way Bud Crawford even gets close to winning is through the preparation…If he truly wants to win what you will see is within the first opening half is him working behind the jab. If he does not work behind the jab, he is not geared for the tactical approach. And the only other approach which is the Hail Mary, is that you hurt the gorilla-neck-boy.
“GGG didn’t drop him, all these fighters been hitting him…The funny thing is with the extra body weight, is (Crawford) agile? Is the footwork going to be able to move, move, move, still use the ring and as those later rounds — rounds 7, 8, 9, 10 — as the pressure continues.
“The other thing is Canelo’s lost a little bit of his bite. He hasn’t been tremendously devastating and taking people out so that helps, that reestablishes the fight and it’s in Bud Crawford’s favor there…The one who really wants it is the one who’s going to win.”