LIVERPOOL, England – Callum Smith believes that his former opponent Saul “Canelo” Alvarez will be too big for Terence Crawford when they face off this Saturday.
The pair will square off at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas for the undisputed super middleweight title. Crawford, who will lose his WBA junior middleweight title the moment the bell sounds Saturday, is moving up two divisions to face Alvarez. Mexico’s Alvarez has been competing at 168lbs and above since 2019 and won his first recognized super middleweight title against Smith back in 2020. Alvarez was too strong for Smith and probably at the peak of his powers that night, winning a landslide unanimous decision and injuring Smith’s left bicep with brute force in the process.
Smith, who was attending the World Boxing Championships in Liverpool, England, was asked for his opinion on the megafight involving his former foe.
“It's a good fight, to be honest with you,” Smith told BoxingScene. “I keep swapping and changing. Part of me sometimes thinks Canelo's not the fighter he was. He's still a very good fighter, but I do think he's on the slide a little bit, and maybe Crawford might be a little bit too fast and too slick. When I've seen him head-to-head, I just think Canelo's naturally that little bit too big, and as good as Crawford is, he's had one fight at 154lbs and he's now skipping 160lbs and going to 168lbs against a solid super middleweight. So I don't know. I think size tells as the fight goes on. I think Crawford will have success early, but I think the natural size will play a part and I'm going to go with Canelo – but I may change my mind in the next couple of days.”
Smith has battled with inactivity throughout his career. Sometimes he looked sensational after a long time out of the ring, sometimes not so much. Crawford finds himself in a similar position, having not fought since winning his WBA 154lb title against Israel Madrimov last August. This will be only Crawford's third fight since July 2023, when he unified all four welterweight titles against Errol Spence Jnr.
So what does Smith think about Crawford’s recent inactivity?
“I've had long layoffs, I've come back and I've performed well. And I've had other ones where I feel it's massively affected my performances,” he said. “I don't know, I think as a fighter, personally, I'm always just confident. If I was out 50 years and I had a terrible camp, I'd just believe I'd get it right on the night. I think you're always confident in your own abilities, that when it matters, the chips are down, you'll perform no matter what – and it isn't always the case. So I don't know. I think, ideally, he would have liked to have been a bit more active, although it was his choice to sit and wait.
“We spoke to him … I think it was when I fought [Joshua Buatsi last February], my brothers were on his flight over, and the [Canelo-Crawford] fight had just been announced. He said, ‘No, I'm going to wait, I'm going to go straight into the Canelo fight. He is going to fight in the meantime, but I'm going to go straight into it,’ which I thought was a bit … I don't know, maybe he's using it to put size on naturally rather than have to fight. I don't know, but he's chosen to be inactive. Whether it plays a part or not, I'm not too sure. We'll have to wait and see. But it's a good fight, it’s nearly here and I'm excited for it.”
Tom Ivers is an amateur boxer who has a masters degree in sports journalism. He had his first bout in 2013, joined BoxingScene in 2024 and is now a key part of the UK and social media teams.
