Tom Loeffler has experience with Canelo Alvarez as the promoter represented Gennadiy Golovkin for three fights against the Mexican. When asked about his thoughts on how Terence Crawford will fare against Canelo based upon his own insight, he had this to say about the upcoming super middleweight fight.
Loeffler on whether Canelo has lost a step since fighting Golovkin
“I’m very familiar with Canelo with the trilogy of the GGG fights. I really think GGG should’ve got the decision the first fight, I thought he won the second fight too but I could’ve easily seen a draw,
and you’ve got to give credit to Canelo where he won the third fight, there was no question about that.
“But Canelo has definitely slowed down since those fight but even with that he’s still a tremendous force in boxing, big body puncher, physically very strong, great timing as a counterpuncher, so you can’t take anything away from Canelo and Crawford has one of the best boxing IQs in the ring. So it’s a great matchup, it’s one of those fantasy matchups that people always talk about and they were able to make it happen for this show here and I’m really looking forward to this fight.”
On who he thinks is the smarter boxer between Canelo and Crawford
“I don’t want to take anything away from Canelo because Crawford has a really high ring IQ but so does Canelo. Canelo’s more of a counterpuncher, he sets traps. Crawford, I have to give with his boxing ability, his hand speed, his foot speed (the edge in those areas). Canelo, physically I would say is a little bit stronger, he can kind of impose his will on it. It’s such a great matchup I wouldn’t be surprised if either one were to win the fight.
“I think Canelo’s been on this big stage before. I think people kind of dismiss him a little bit with that last performance he had in Riyadh but when you have an opponent like (William) Scull who’s not going to engage, it’s really hard to look good against someone like that.
“So I would give the edge to Canelo because he’s been in that position before. I don’t think the weight is as big as a lot of people are saying because Crawford probably walks around at that weight, probably only has to drop a couple pounds but he’s the type of guy that can easily put on the muscle and the mass and use his hand speed, his foot speed to box. I just think if Canelo is able to impose his will and throw the body shots and throw some counter punches I can see him edging out a win on that night.”
On what Crawford has to be most careful about with Canelo
“I really think his body punches. He’s got some great either counter punch to the head or he’s got some great left hooks to the body that really are effective, so he can easily wear you down. So I think that’s what Crawford has to look out for, those tricky body shots that Canelo throws.”
On how Crawford should attack Canelo
“Crawford has to really be careful with those body shots. He cannot get lured into — he definitely cannot get lured into a firefight. He’s going to lose if it’s a back and forth type of situation, that’s not where Crawford wants to be. He wants to stay on the outside, use his speed, his skills, and really I see him boxing. Now if he hurts Canelo then he can go there and start going toe-to-toe but Canelo’s the kind of guy you don’t want to stand in front of that guy because he really can start to pick you apart.”
