Vergil Ortiz Jr. has felt
Canelo Alvarez’s power firsthand during spirited sparring sessions in recent years.
Ortiz is warning
Terence Crawford that the Mexican star’s strength will be unlike anything he’s ever felt before when he
faces the undisputed super middleweight champion on Sept. 13 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on Netflix.
“There are different kinds of power," Ortiz told The Ring. "With Canelo, it's like an unstoppable force. It wasn't really explosive, but man, it was [expletive] heavy. He has heavy hands.
“I don't say this out of bias toward Canelo, but logically, a great bigger fighter beats a great smaller fighter.”
Alvarez (63-2-2, 39 KOs) has been fighting at 168 pounds since 2018, but he hasn’t scored a knockout win in seven fights over the last four years. In 2021, Alvarez was the pound-for-pound king and the Fighter of the Year, but he has lost some luster in recent years. OF course, the biggest setback was a loss to
Dmitry Bivol at light heavyweight in 2022.
Crawford’s (41-0, 31 KOs) stoppage streak ended at 11 when he outpointed WBA champion
Israil Madrimov in August of last year in his 154-pound debut after undisputed runs at 140 and 147 from 2015 to 2023, and a lightweight title run before that.
“Crawford fought once at 154 pounds, and now he's jumping up two weight classes,” said Ortiz, The Ring’s No. 2-rated contender at 154 pounds.
“It's a big jump, and it's not like he's fighting some random dude at 168 pounds. In fact, I felt like Crawford should have first fought someone at 168 to really get the feel of the division instead of jumping straight to Canelo.
"But he's Crawford, and anything can happen. Crawford definitely has the skills, but he's at a big disadvantage size-wise, even though he almost even looks bigger than Canelo when they are standing next to each other.
"Weighing more and being a fighter at a natural weight are two different things, though. I think Canelo is going to win, but a loss is not going to tarnish Crawford's career. I'm not saying he can't win the fight, but I don't see Crawford winning. I don't think it's going to happen.”
Manouk Akopyan is The Ring’s lead writer. Follow him on X and Instagram: @ManoukAkopyan.