Terence Crawford says one Canelo performance made him realize he couldn’t lose

Terence Crawford has recalled the precise second the place, in his thoughts, it was confirmed that he couldn’t presumably lose to Canelo Alvarez.

The pair finally squared off in September 2025, however Crawford insists he was angling to face the Mexican at the least 12 months prior.

It was round this time that he dethroned Israil Madrimov at 154lbs, which adopted his undisputed welterweight overcome Errol Spence Jr in 2023.

Back then, many questioned whether or not ‘Bud’ had the body and bodily attributes to even compete at 168lbs, not to mention topple the division’s undisputed king.

As it occurred, although, Crawford produced a masterful performance to dethrone Canelo with a unanimous decision victoryseizing all 4 of his world super-middleweight titles.

But whereas Alvarez was a transparent favourite heading into their contest, it abruptly appeared as if many had been starting to favor the pace and technical prowess of Crawford.

This was partly due to Canelo’s uninspiring display against William Scullwho he convincingly outpointed earlier that yr whereas finally missing a level of explosiveness and aggression.

But as a substitute of highlighting this as the primary signal of Canelo’s decline, Crawford has instructed Jai McAllister that 2024 was when he knew precisely how their eventual combat would unfold.

“When I was at 147[lbs]I was already calling out Canelo. I was already saying I’ll move up three weight classes and fight Canelo.

“Me and Turki [Alalshikh] went to watch him fight [Edgar] Berlanga and I said, ‘He can’t beat me’.”

Against Berlanga, Canelo scored a third-round knockdown but otherwise failed to captivate his fansearlier than claiming a large unanimous choice victory.

As a consequence, Crawford clearly felt he was there for the taking, regardless of it being a yr earlier than they locked horns in Las Vegas.