Terence Crawford is on a single-minded mission to upset undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez on September 13 – so much so that he’s closed his training camp to all interviews until he arrives in Las Vegas for fight week.
Crawford’s trainer, Brian McIntyre, and publicist Julie Goldsticker both informed BoxingScene Friday that Crawford will not admit visitors to his camp in Colorado Springs as the unbeaten four-division champion focuses on the final month of his preparations for Mexico’s four-division champion.
The bout will be streamed by Netflix from Allegiant Stadium, home of the Las Vegas Raiders.
The 37-year-old Crawford, 41-0 (31 KOs), hasn’t fought since August 3, 2024, when he moved up one weight class to win the WBA junior middleweight title from Israil Madrimov, claiming the final two rounds to pull away in a close fight.
Moving up from 154lbs to 168lbs to meet the dominant and popular Alvarez on Mexican Independence Day weekend is a daunting challenge, and Nebraska’s Crawford is a +145 underdog.
Crawford, according to one expert in his camp, is wary of repeating the mistakes that former 154lbs champions Jermell Charlo and Jaime Munguia made by inflating their frames to a new weight limit without consideration of other factors.
Crawford wants to retain his ability to fight with fluidity, maximizing the effectiveness of his power punches from both hands, and ability to fight from a southpaw stance.
For the more lumbering Alvarez to land effective power blows, he’ll need to catch Crawford – who overwhelmed his best opponent to date, Errol Spence Jnr, with a sublime fight plan.
This training camp and fight has legacy affirming stakes for Crawford. In the event of a win, he would stand as an unbeaten five-division champion (ranging from lightweight to super middleweight) and accentuate his already considerable resume with its most impressive win yet.
Eliminating any distraction through the process of pursuing that achievement is part of his plan that, if successful, will go down as a triumph for the history books.
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