Although it’s been a few weeks since
Terence Crawford moved up two weight classes to dethrone
Canelo Alvarez,
Danny Garcia is still in awe.
Heading into the September 13 showdown at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Garcia wasn’t sure what to expect. He knew that Crawford had the skills to compete with Alvarez at 168 pounds, but the size difference made him hesitant to go out on a limb and pick him to win.
Ultimately,
Crawford beat the Mexican star via unanimous decision. Now Crawford (42-0, 31 KOs) is flirting with the idea of moving down to the middleweight division. If that’s the decision he makes, Garcia would understand. However, he believes the 38-year-old would be at a size disadvantage.
“I think he’s more of a natural 154 at this age, if you ask me,” Garcia told FightHype.com. “But 160, he can probably make that easy.”
Crawford has acknowledged that his time in the sport is winding down. But before he walks away, he could have one last hoorah as a middleweight.
To a certain extent, Garcia (37-4, 21 KOs) cringes whenever the middleweight division is brought up in conversation. The 37-year-old had a dare-to-be great moment in September of last year when he ended a two-plus-year layoff to challenge Erislandy Lara for his WBA middleweight strap.
Garcia, who was aiming to become a three-division champion, had never fought at 160 pounds. The extra weight evidently played a role in his performance as he was stopped in the ninth round.
With first-hand knowledge of what it’s like to compete in that weight class, Garcia wants Crawford to know that it isn’t an easy division to conquer.
“Those guys are hungry down there,” Garcia said. “Anytime you fight somebody that’s hungry, it’s always dangerous. The best thing for Terence to do is just fight Canelo again, unless you want to be a six-division world champion.”