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I keep hearing talk about this fight (which won't happen), and people are actually giving Crawford some sort of chance at beating Charlo. Let me start by saying, it's very unlikely Crawford beats Mell. For one, Crawford likely can't outbox Mell. Before you say Tony Harrison did it, look at the size and reach difference between Harrison and Crawford. Harrison has a 76 1/2 almost 77" reach while Crawford only has a 74". Harrison is 6' 1" while Crawford is about 5' 8. So Harrison has a 2 almost 3 inch reach advantage, and about a 5 inch height advantage over T-bud. And staying completely unbiased, Harrison is a very skilled fighter with a beautiful, sharp, stinging jab but he has a weak chin (usually due to his stamina issues). Harrison's jab played a major role in him being able to outbox Mell in the first fight, and I believe Harrison has a better jab than Crawford (to be fair, Harrison has a great jab so it's not like many people have a better jab than him).
Secondly, Crawford seriously struggles to fight on his back-foot. This is why Mean Machine was able to catch him consistently in the early rounds. He would back Crawford up and time him with hard shots, which imo Kava has done the best against Bud at WW. Back to the point, Jermell is a methodical yet aggressive fighter who walks his guys down, and explodes in short bursts cutting off the the ring and throwing lunging left hooks. I don't see Mell fighting off his back foot against T-bud, yet I see T-bud backing up and getting caught clean with hard shots, from a strong 154 pounder.
Thirdly, I'm not going to attack T-buds chin, but I will say Crawford has poor defense and periodically has a lapse in fundamentals. I hear alot about how much of a defensive "genius" Bud is, yet when I watch the first 3 rounds of the Kell Brook fight and the whole Kava fight, I see Crawford getting caught by slow footed fighters. With the Kava fight in particular, he was getting tagged consistently with slow, predictable punches. Also, from Southpaw Crawford has a habit of dropping his guard when his opponent throws a right hand (a lapse in fundamentals). Jermell Charlo, if you didn't know, loves to throw his overhand rights aka windmill right hands.
Finally, Crawford can't hurt Jermell. Most of Crawfords wins at WW are not from out boxing his guys, but to his respect, he is out manning them. So Crawford doesn't focus on defense but pure offense. The problem is, Crawford can't sacrifice defense against Jermell. I know Crawford is on a knockout streak against lower opposition, but we can assume that he wont have this same power, for one, against higher level comp. at WW, yet alone up a weight division. Also, if you are able to stay unbiased as well, we can safely admit, Jermell Charlo has a better chin than Crawford. With that said, when they go to exchange, it will likely be Crawford getting hurt not Jermell, especially if Crawford's power doesn't increase going up to SWW.
In summary, Crawford isn't beating Jermell Charlo: he's not going to outbox him, he's not going to out-man Mell as Mell is too big and strong, he's has a huge flaw from Southpaw that Jermell will gladly exploit. To keep it real though, if Crawford ends up fighting Jermell, it likely means EJ is ducking, but we shall see. What's your opinion, lets try not to rely on the infamous eye-test as that shii doesn't apply when you're going up a weight division and fighting the champ?
Secondly, Crawford seriously struggles to fight on his back-foot. This is why Mean Machine was able to catch him consistently in the early rounds. He would back Crawford up and time him with hard shots, which imo Kava has done the best against Bud at WW. Back to the point, Jermell is a methodical yet aggressive fighter who walks his guys down, and explodes in short bursts cutting off the the ring and throwing lunging left hooks. I don't see Mell fighting off his back foot against T-bud, yet I see T-bud backing up and getting caught clean with hard shots, from a strong 154 pounder.
Thirdly, I'm not going to attack T-buds chin, but I will say Crawford has poor defense and periodically has a lapse in fundamentals. I hear alot about how much of a defensive "genius" Bud is, yet when I watch the first 3 rounds of the Kell Brook fight and the whole Kava fight, I see Crawford getting caught by slow footed fighters. With the Kava fight in particular, he was getting tagged consistently with slow, predictable punches. Also, from Southpaw Crawford has a habit of dropping his guard when his opponent throws a right hand (a lapse in fundamentals). Jermell Charlo, if you didn't know, loves to throw his overhand rights aka windmill right hands.
Finally, Crawford can't hurt Jermell. Most of Crawfords wins at WW are not from out boxing his guys, but to his respect, he is out manning them. So Crawford doesn't focus on defense but pure offense. The problem is, Crawford can't sacrifice defense against Jermell. I know Crawford is on a knockout streak against lower opposition, but we can assume that he wont have this same power, for one, against higher level comp. at WW, yet alone up a weight division. Also, if you are able to stay unbiased as well, we can safely admit, Jermell Charlo has a better chin than Crawford. With that said, when they go to exchange, it will likely be Crawford getting hurt not Jermell, especially if Crawford's power doesn't increase going up to SWW.
In summary, Crawford isn't beating Jermell Charlo: he's not going to outbox him, he's not going to out-man Mell as Mell is too big and strong, he's has a huge flaw from Southpaw that Jermell will gladly exploit. To keep it real though, if Crawford ends up fighting Jermell, it likely means EJ is ducking, but we shall see. What's your opinion, lets try not to rely on the infamous eye-test as that shii doesn't apply when you're going up a weight division and fighting the champ?
Dallas' 4 Eva
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