Terence Crawford has recalled the precise second the place, in his thoughts, it was confirmed that he couldn’t probably lose to Canelo Alvarez.
The pair ultimately squared off in September 2025, however Crawford insists he was angling to face the Mexican at the very least 12 months prior.
It was round this time that he dethroned Israil Madrimov at 154lbs, which adopted his undisputed welterweight conquer Errol Spence Jr in 2023.
Back then, many questioned whether or not ‘Bud’ had the body and bodily attributes to even compete at 168lbs, not to mention topple the division’s undisputed king.
As it occurred, although, Crawford produced a masterful performance to dethrone Canelo with a unanimous decision victory, seizing all 4 of his world super-middleweight titles.
But whereas Alvarez was a transparent favorite heading into their contest, it all of the sudden appeared as if many had been starting to favour the pace and technical prowess of Crawford.
This was partly due to Canelo’s uninspiring display against William Scull, who he convincingly outpointed earlier that 12 months whereas in the end missing a level of explosiveness and aggression.
But as an alternative of highlighting this as the primary signal of Canelo’s decline, Crawford has advised Jai McAllister that 2024 was when he knew precisely how their eventual struggle would unfold.
“When I was at 147[lbs], I was already calling out Canelo. I was already saying I’ll move up three weight classes and fight Canelo.
“Me and Turki [Alalshikh] went to watch him fight [Edgar] Berlanga and I said, ‘He can’t beat me’.”
Against Berlanga, Canelo scored a third-round knockdown but otherwise failed to captivate his fans, earlier than claiming a large unanimous resolution victory.
As a consequence, Crawford clearly felt he was there for the taking, regardless of it being a 12 months earlier than they locked horns in Las Vegas.
