LAS VEGAS – Derrick James and Abel Sanchez both trained world champions who moved up in weight to challenge Canelo Alvarez in 168-pound title fights.

Both boxers, Jermell Charlo and Gennadiy Golovkin, lost decisive decisions to the Mexican superstar. James and Sanchez therefore fully understand the arduous task that awaits Terence Crawford on Saturday night at Allegiant Stadium.

They disagree, though, about who will win.

James favors Crawford, in part because his uncrackable confidence sets apart the four-weight world champion from many of the opponents Alvarez defeated, particularly in super middleweight title fights. Errol Spence Jr.’s former trainer is one of the few chief seconds in boxing who has worked corners opposite both Crawford and Alvarez, so he has a unique understanding of their 12-round fight for Alvarez’s Ring, IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO super middleweight titles (Netflix, 9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT).

“When people fight a Canelo or somebody like that, they fight the idea of a fighter,” James told The Ring. “Crawford is not gonna fight the idea of Canelo. He’s gonna fight Canelo, the actual individual. He’s faster than him. He’s more athletic than him. He just has to be more disciplined. So, don’t fight the idea of the monster – fight the monster.”

Charlo’s reluctance to engage against Alvarez eliminated any opportunity the former unified junior middleweight champ might’ve had to make their fight competitive.

Like Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs), Charlo moved up 14 pounds for their fight in September 2023 at T-Mobile Arena. Two months earlier, Crawford dominated Spence on his way to a ninth-round stoppage, also at T-Mobile Arena.

Whereas Charlo is much taller than Alvarez (63-2-2, 39 KOs), Crawford owns only a slight height advantage. Charlo was a junior middleweight most of his career, however, whereas Crawford has competed above the welterweight maximum of 147 pounds only once.

“I honestly believe his size won’t be a factor in the fight because, as long as Crawford boxes him and uses his athleticism and his skill set, he’ll be faster than Canelo,” James said. “And I think that’s the key factor ... the speed. Regardless of whatever IQ Canelo has and the counter-punching ability, Crawford’s athleticism and his speed will be able to kind of dictate the pace, dictate the fight. I mean, I grew up in boxing gyms my whole life, and I’ve seen smaller guys beat big guys up all the time. But if it’s a good small guy against a good big guy, it’s always a test, so we’ll see.”

Sanchez sees Crawford’s ambitious jump up in weight differently from James.

He would’ve preferred for Crawford to compete in the super middleweight division a couple times before he challenged a fighter of Alvarez’s caliber. Sanchez also doesn’t view Alvarez’s apathetic performance against Cuban William Scull four months ago as an accurate indication of what the 35-year-old Alvarez has left after a 19-year, 67-fight professional career.

“On Crawford’s side,” Sanchez told The Ring, “if it’s true what I’ve been reading about him ballooning up in weight in the 190s and then coming back down to ’68, that’s a terrible thing to do. Why is he giving himself the task of having to whittle down to the weight limit? If it would’ve been me, but then again, that’s why there are so many coaches that are right and wrong. If it would’ve been me, I would’ve kept him at ’68, ’70, which would’ve been his natural weight, build him up that way strength-wise, so that way he wouldn’t have had to debilitate a little bit having to lose the weight. The second thing is that just because he gained weight doesn’t mean he’s gonna be a harder puncher or stronger. By losing that weight like he’s doing, he’s definitely not gonna be stronger.

“And I think third is that he never really fought at 168. Just stay at that weight, fight a couple guys, get sparring in the gym, get a year’s worth of work at 168. Fight the guys, spar with the guys that are gonna make you stronger. Because we can do all the weight training we want in the gym. We can do all the things that we do. Every coach is different, like I said. But they’re gonna get stronger just by being in there and somebody muscling them, somebody moving them, somebody pushing them, somebody forcing them to do things they don’t wanna do and forcing them to be strong. And he never did that. The only time he moved up, he got, I don’t wanna say handled, but he didn’t look like the dominant guy that he was at 147.”

Crawford defeated Israil Madrimov (10-2-1, 7 KOs) by unanimous decision in a closely contested fight to win the WBA 154-pound crown in August of last year at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles. The Omaha, Nebraska, native hasn’t fought in the 13 months since the Uzbek ended his 11-fight knockout streak.

Sanchez knows all too well the physicality required to fend off Alvarez following Golovkin’s 36 rounds in the ring with him.

Alvarez’s first two fights against Golovkin were contested at the middleweight limit of 160 pounds. Their third bout, which Alvarez won convincingly, marked the only full-fledged super middleweight fight of Golovkin’s career in September 2022.

Golovkin was 40 at the time of their third fight, the last appearance of his Hall-of-Fame career. Crawford will turn 38 on Sept. 28, yet age has little to do with why Sanchez favors Alvarez.

“And it’s not about punching power,” Sanchez said. “It’s about when a guy is just walking you down and muscling you, and you’re not able to do the things that you’re accustomed to doing. That was at ’54. That’s another 14 pounds you’re going up, to a guy who’s accustomed to doing that with the big dudes. Not even [Dmitry] Bivol could really move him [in a light heavyweight title fight]. He threw a lot of combinations and threw a lotta shots, but he didn’t really control him like I think that Canelo will be able to control Crawford.

“I just have to go with the size difference. Don’t get me wrong – Crawford is a Hall-of-Famer, Crawford’s a great warrior. Crawford’s gonna give it all he’s got. He’s gonna want to win. He’s not in there like a Scull. He’s in there to win. But he’s going up against a real, real big task.”

James seconded Sanchez’s assessment of how Crawford will approach the biggest fight of his career. Based on his own experience, James just thinks Crawford will withstand Alvarez’s pressure and handle his “intelligent” opponent’s terrific timing well enough to win a decision.

“One of the reasons why I believe that Crawford will win is because of who he is and who he believes himself to be,” James said. “I think that so many other people fight Canelo and they have doubt within themselves and who they are. Crawford doesn’t have that doubt. I believe that he knows who he is. As long as he can be disciplined in his strategy and game plan, whatever that is, I believe he’ll be able to win the fight. And I’m not saying Canelo’s not a great fighter.”

Sanchez senses Crawford will find a way to keep their fight at least competitive.

“The one thing Crawford is gonna have to do, in my opinion, is keep Canelo guessing,” Sanchez said. “Keep him backing up, keep him changing angles, keep him thinking. If he can keep that up for 12 rounds and be active with his hands, I think he’s got a chance. But between being active with his hands, Canelo’s gonna have opportunities also. It’s a difficult task, in my opinion.”