Tim Tszyu says he’s leaning towards Terence Crawford defeating Canelo Alvarez for their September 13th fight in Las Vegas. Tszyu feels that Canelo (63-2-2, 39 KOs) hasn’t looked like the version of himself that had fought Gennadiy Golovkin in the second fight. He thinks that was the best Canelo he’d seen to date.

Tszyu doesn’t think Canelo will be able to use his strength advantage in this fight because Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) is “very smart.”

Canelo’s Form Questioned

“It depends on the Canelo that comes out. The Canelo that fought GGG in the second one, I thought that was probably the best Canelo I’ve seen to date,” said Tim Tszyu to Sean Zittel. “The Canelo I’ve seen in recent years hasn’t been the Canelo from the GGG days. That’s what it’s all about.”

Canelo looked every bit as powerful against William Scull last May as he had in his three fights against Gennadiy Golovkin. The only difference is that he had an opponent who didn’t want to engage, and he was forced to follow him around the ring for 12 rounds. If Scull had stood and fought, Canelo likely would have stopped him.

“Crawford is like 38 years old, but he’s still fresh and he hasn’t been hit. So, that’s the real question. I think he’s become predictable. He has these certain shots, and he’s used his brute force and physical strength to bully everyone.”

Terence will be a year older than he was when he last fought against Israil Madrimov last August, and his age will definitely be showing after sitting for an entire year. It doesn’t matter that Crawford didn’t get hit a lot in his career. He’s 38, and he looked old in his fight against Madrimov after staying out of the ring for an entire year after his win over Errol Spence Jr. in 2023.

Tszyu: Crawford 65%

“Right now, in front of him, it’s not someone you can use your strength against because he’s very smart, Crawford. I’d go 65% Crawford,” said Tszyu.

Canelo’s punching power is going to be eye-catching because he hits so much harder than Crawford. We saw in Crawford’s fight against Israil Madrimov at 154 that his power hadn’t carried up from 147. It’s going to be even more noticeable at 168.

This fight could be similar to Canelo’s match against Erislandy Lara, in which the judges gave him the decision despite his low output. The shots that he landed in that fight were considerably harder, and that’s what got him the way. It’ll be worse for Crawford because he doesn’t even have Lara’s power.