Terence Crawford has offered his honest thoughts on Canelo Alvarez vs Christian Mbilli, interested to see how his former foe bounces back from their encounter.
The pair squared off last September, with Crawford claiming a unanimous decision victory and cementing his greatness as a three-division undisputed champion.
Despite moving up two weight classes, ‘Bud’ seemed comfortable with the size disparity against Canelo, who was ultimately relieved of his four world super-middleweight titles.
In his next outing, though, Alvarez will look to reclaim one of the belts against Mbilli, who was elevated from ‘interim’ to full WBC champion following Crawford’s retirement.
The Frenchman had defended his ‘interim’ title on the undercard of Canelo-Crawford, boxing to a 10-round draw against unbeaten contender Lester Martinez.
Known for his high-volume style, Mbilli represents a solid opponent for Alvarez, who is set to face the 31-year-old in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on September 12.
Given his achievements, the 35-year-old could have quite easily retired after losing to Crawford, calling time on an illustrious professional career that commenced in 2005.
Crawford, however, has told DAZN Boxing that he understands the Mexican’s desire to claim at least one more victory before finally calling it quits.
“I think it’s going to be a great fight. Mbilli puts on a lot of pressure. Canelo – we’re going to see what type of shape he’s going to come in.
“Canelo is an all-time great and I’m looking forward to seeing how he bounces back [from the Crawford defeat].
“Knowing Canelo, he don’t want to end his career on a loss. So I can see Canelo wanting to come back and prove himself.”
A win over Mbilli would certainly open further doors for Alvarez, who may even look to unify the 168lb division, once again, by facing the winner of Hamzah Sheeraz vs Alem Begic, which takes place on the undercard of Oleksandr Usyk vs Rico Verhoeven this Saturday.
