Crawford needs 164 pounds against Canelo, McKenna says

Middleweight Aaron McKenna says Terence Crawford would make a better fight for Canelo Alvarez if the match was made at a catchweight of 164 instead of 168.

(Credit: Mark Robinson/Matchroom)

He fought Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) and was impressed with his technical skills and power. However, McKenna thinks the power and size of unified super middleweight champion Canelo (62-2-2, 39 KOs) would be a problem for Terence unless he agreed to go a little lower at a catchweight.

164 For a fair fight

Canelo is unlikely to agree to give Crawford, 37, a handicap because he would be the star of their fight, and there is no reason for him to help the smaller fighter give him an advantage. Crawford has talked about wanting to move up to super middleweight to challenge Canelo for his three titles for “legacy” purposes, but if he doesn’t fight at the full weight of 168 pounds, that will tarnish him.

If Crawford really wants to fight Canelo, he will agree to move up to 168 to challenge him. It would be useless for him to expect to be given a handicap.

“Canelo is the strongest fighter in the world at 168 years old and that weight. If it was at a catchweight, I think it would be a really good fight at 164,” Aaron McKenna told Sean Zittel about Terence Crawford having a better chance of defeating Canelo Alvarez if he was given a handicap from contests held at four pounds under the 168-pound limit.

“Crawford definitely has the skills to create a lot of problems for him, and he has the timing and the reach. It’s just that if he can withstand Canelo’s strength, I think it would be a great fight. 168, yes, but I think it would be even better if it were variable weight to make it more in line.

“He’s hard to catch. You have to be calculated. You can’t fail. You can’t overdo it. It has to be perfect sparring,” McKenna said of Crawford.