Malignaggi Backs Crawford To Beat Canelo – ‘This Is Not Prime Canelo’
Paulie Malignaggi feels Terence Crawford can pull off an upset and defeat Canelo Alvarez.
The pair expected to face each other at 168 pounds in September on Mexican Independence Weekend. The fight will be for the Undisputed Super Middleweight Title, provided Canelo beats William Scull for the IBF Super Middleweight belt in May. The narrative running into this fight is that Crawford may be biting off more than he can chew. He will jump up two weight classes to face Canelo without any rehydration clause.
Jermell Charlo, the former Undisputed Junior Middleweight Champion, did the same by moving up from 154 pounds to 168. However, the fight showed that he could not trouble Canelo, as he lost a one-sided unanimous decision. The extra weight compromised his speed, while his power did not transcend through his punches.
Crawford showed in his last fight against Israil Madrimov that moving up in weight was not as easy as some may have thought. Before the Madrimov fight at 154, Crawford had knocked out all of his opponents at welterweight. But Madrimov was catching Crawford more than usual, even though the American eventually went on to secure the WBA Junior Middleweight Belt.
However, Malignaggi can see a way for Crawford to win. He felt that Crawford was better from the right-hand stance than Canelo, even though Bud is naturally a southpaw. He also thought Canelo was no longer in his prime, stating that he was looking to secure the big paydays.
Malingaggi Reacts
He cited how, after the Dmitry Bivol fight, he had dropped his level of opposition. Malignaggi also questioned whether Canelo was willing to dig down in the trenches when he was facing pressure, as shown in his losses to Floyd Mayweather and Bivol. That is why Malignaggi could not rule out a Crawford win.
“This Canelo is not the prime Canelo. This Canelo is trying to steal bags while half-a***** it. When Canelo has been put in tough situations where he had to dig down, what has he done? He hasn’t really dug down and gone for broke in fights where he was losing. He just kind of accepted the loss. We saw that against Floyd [Mayweather Jr.] too [as well as against Dmitry Bivol]. He never really took a risk in the Floyd fight when he was outclassed. He just accepted it. Ever since [the Bivol fight], he dropped the level of his opposition tremendously.
“He [Crawford] is a guy that reminds me of Floyd and is hungry, motivated and wants to be the best. He has that mean streak in the ring. Crawford wants to go for that gusto. That doesn’t mean Crawford wins because he’s small. I believe more now that Crawford can win than when it was first talked about. I think for the better of boxing, Crawford wins because he went about his career the right way by trying to chase the best all the time,” Malingaggi said
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