Trainer Abel Sanchez says the weight that Terence Crawford has put on in the last year will come back to haunt him against Canelo Alvarez on September 13th. Terence won’t be able to move the way he used to due to the extra weight.

Crawford’s Lost Mobility vs Canelo

With the lost movement, Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) won’t be able to elude undisputed super middleweight champion Alvarez (63-2-2, 39 KOs) inside the ring.

Canelo vs. Crawford will headline on Netflix from the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. Crawford is moving up two weight classes at age 37 to get an immediate title shot. That’s courtesy of Turki Alalshikh, who is making that happen.

“It may look like it’ll hurt him, but he’s been in the gym, he’s been sparring and doing all the things that are necessary,” said trainer Abel Sanchez to Johnny Boy Boxing when asked if the year out of the ring is going to hurt Terence Crawford’s performance against Canelo Alvarez.

Still, not fighting once or twice during an entire year isn’t going to affect Crawford. He’s been doing this for the last five years, but he was fighting a weaker opposition. It may not have hurt Bud when he was fighting the likes of the washed Errol Spence, Shawn Porter, and David Avanesyan, but it will against Canelo. We already saw the decline in Crawford in his last fight against Israiel Madrimov, and he was very lucky to get the W in that fight.

“What’s going to hurt him is that he’s going to be at a heavier weight. He’s not going to be as mobile or as good at 154 as he was against Madrimov. So, now he’s going to be fighting a 168-pounder [Canelo]. He’s used to fighting 175-pounders,” said Abel.

It wasn’t a surprise that Crawford didn’t show great movement against Madrimov because he hadn’t moved a lot for years before moving up to 154. When he moved up from 140 to 147 in 2018, his mobility took a hit. Now, seven years later, Bud won’t be hard for Canelo to find. Crawford won’t be crazy enough to even try to move a lot because he knows he won’t win a decision that way.

Abel Sanchez’s Crawford Warning

“So, it’ll be different,” said Sanchez about Crawford. “I hope he doesn’t come in too heavy because I think the weight will affect his movement, and tire him out a little bit more,” said Sanchez.

You could see from the photos of Crawford that he looks like a super middleweight. He’s put on weight. He’s not tall for the division, but he looks like he would be at home fighting certain guys. It’s still going to be a tall order for him because he didn’t show much power in his last fight, moving up to 154 against Madrimov.