Canelo of the Kirkland fight was his best version. He was moving well, feintimg and throwing combinations. He gradually forgot how to do all three and eventually were totally missing vs Bud.
JCC Jr version was arguably his best. What a complete schooling that was. Granted it was Chavez Jr, but still, how he performed that night was incredible. I agree that there was plenty missing against Bud compared to 5-10 years ago, but there was a lot still there. For someone who's been in the sport as long as he has been, 20 years now, the fact that he's still going strong says a lot about his work ethic and love of the sport. And we should appareciate Canelo, even a somewhat diminished Canelo compared to what he was, for his longevity.
Yes. Crawford fought a stronger, full strength, much more experienced Clenelo but Floyd fought a much hungrier, younger, much sharper, quicker hands and feet, way less miles on the clock version who was much bigger than him and wasn't on a four year KO drought. Floyd loses points for trying to cripple him at the negotiating table with the catchweight, Crawford fought Clenelo at his weight class but by the same token he was almost the same size as him
Yes but Bivol beat the best version of Canelo of anyone who beat him. Or maybe GGG in the first fight (I know it wasn’t officially a win for GGG but I think most agree he should have been given the decision).
No. Crawford fought a bigger, stronger, more powerful, more experienced, more skilled and smarter Canelo.
And there was no BS stipulations from Bud like catch weights and rehydration clauses like it was with Mayweather when he fought Canelo.
Absolutely not. Combination-punching isn’t everything, just from the difference in mentality alone Crawford had a tougher test against him. Canelo was an aging demotivated champ, but he was still a champ. A confident guy that experienced everything the boxing world had to offer in the ring. All kinds of styles, all qualities of opponents, all kinds of matches (chess matches, slugfests, whatever you can think of), basically anything. Floyd fought with a young Canelo that, despite his 44-0 record, had never before faced anything even remotely close to a historical talent like Floyd. You can see it in the match itself, Canelo was extremely frustrated after the first few rounds, completely forgot everything and was full on throwing haymakers towards the end. He looked completely lost and didn’t know what to do, far from the SMW Canelo that still kept his composure and technique even when Crawford was answering everything he had. And that’s just the mental aspect. Physically and skill-wise Crawford’s Canelo was better as well. Bigger, a lot stronger and harder hitting, tighter overall technique, better timing, better defense, better punch placement, better pacing, all younger Canelo had was more speed and combination-punching. Reasons why Floyd’s performance might be more impressive isn’t because his Canelo was better, it’s because he was actually a lot smaller than Canelo unlike Crawford, was 13 years older at 36 and completely washed Canelo.
Bivol beat the best version of Canelo. That Canelo was in his physical and skillset prime. Floyd gave Canelo the best spanking he ever received, most one-sided. Bud gave the Mexican his most unexpected beating, the most 'upsetting' loss of the three.
He was younger and more active in workrate but less powerful and not as smart. Better legs back then. I guess on a P4P scale he was probably a little bit better than but Crawfords win over Canelo is much better than Floyd Mayweathers win considering the context Canelos prime was from the Rocky Fielding fight to the Dimitry Bivol fight (Caleb Plant was Canelos last prime perfomance)
Agreed. For all the self-promoting, I'm the best ever nonsense Floyd talked, you would think he wouldn't need catch weights and multiple retirements to stack the deck. Didn't he also catchweight Juan Manuel Marquez and force Maidana to use pillow gloves instead of punchers?
Yeah, he and he came in over the cactchweight limit for that fight and Maidana's puncher's gloves were legal and commission approved. That works against him and in Crawford's favour and just in every other fighter's favour who doesn't stack the deck in their favour at the negotiating table
Physically Canelo looked much quicker with his hands and feet against Floyd. He also threw combinations and jabs. So from an athletic standpoint, I think Canelo was better. Canelo now is just a slow plodder. Combination punching is nonexistent. Canelo moved his head more back then than he does now. Now his defense is catching shots with the high guard and moving back. He doesn’t move his head nearly enough. Canelo straight up does not jab. I remember people being critical of that even when Canelo was younger but it’s an even bigger issue now. With all of that being said, Canelo is way more experienced now than back then. He knows his style better. He knows what he can and can’t do. Has a better idea of how he wants to attack now. It’s kinda like how some people will say Floyd was better at 130 while others would say he was better at 147 because of the added experience. Do you prefer the better athlete or the more experienced fighter?