i get annoyed beyond reason when there is a highly anticipated fight, the betting lines are close and there is no general consensus on who will win, but then one guy dominates and suddenly the other wasn't any good at all. it unfairly diminishes the accomplishment.
and i predicted spence would take it, and did for years. i'm no crawford fanboy.
the comparison was that crawford is a fast, rangy technician who relies on precise and explosive shots, more so than on thudding power like golovkin. i'm not saying bud fights like floyd, i'm saying his offense will give canelo the same kind of issues. the ginger handles sluggers far better than he does people who are technically superior to him, which i think crawford is.
and i think bud's jab is pretty great, when he wants to use it. i expect he will here.
what do you mean so what if he moved so much? do you expect canelo to fight crawford the way madrimov did? it didn't feel to me like it was madrimov's size that gave bud trouble, but his constant movement... which isn't something that canelo does, so i don't expect bud to have trouble finding him.
if we were talking about a 2017 canelo, i'd probably pick him over any version of crawford. but i think he's long removed from that, bud hasn't shown any such decline as far as i can see.
Yes, I'm not usually one of those types either. IE if someone is beaten easily he's a bum. But like I said, I changed my prediction as it became clear Crawford was the much fresher fighter despite being older. And I don't think it's unreasonable to say Spence looked absolutely fucking terrible in the fight. Both things can be true, Crawford looking great and Spence looking bad. It doesn't have to be one or the other.
Let me put it like this, would you really be shocked if Spence never fought again, or perhaps did and looked absolutely shot?
Is anyone really expecting him to come back and be an elite fighter?
Regarding the Madrimov fight, my point was pretty clear - that Crawford looked underwhelming, human, and beatable. It was a close fight.
It's not about whether Canelo fights like him, I know he doesn't, and everyone knows he's not a mover, he's a low output, stalker/puncher. That's obvious.
My point was simple - awkward style or not, the Madrimov fight made him look very much human and beatable at 154. If Crawford was quite as good and technical as you think he is, he would have adapted and found a way to beat Madrimov clearly. Ortiz did, so it's not like Madrimov gives everyone fits. He's not that good, he just has an annoying, pesky style.
If you think size had nothing to do with it, you should watch it again. Crawford's power clearly didn't have the same impact at 154, didn't really get his respect as much as Ortiz's did, or come close to stopping him. Also, Madrimov was stronger and more powerful than Crawford was used to. He couldn't manhandle Madrimov in the clinch, and it looked like Madrimov hit hard enough to make Crawford more cautious than Ortiz was.
And that was at 154 against a guy nowhere near as big or good or powerful as Canelo.
The one thing we can agree on, is despite being younger, Canelo is clearly more shopworn than Crawford. Crawford still looks fresh for sure. Physically he looks older, but fight wise, yeah he still looks absolutely prime.
As such would I be shocked if Crawford won? Nah, but he's obviously not stopping Canelo.
I know Crawford is good, top 5 P4P good, I just don't think he's as good as the Spence fight made him look. He's probably better than the Madrimov fight made him look, but if anything I think that fight is a better indicator of Crawford's abilities at 154+.