Highly-respected coach Derrick James has revealed his prediction for a potential Terence Crawford and Canelo Alvarez rematch.
Crawford became undisputed super-middleweight champion in September 2025 when he stepped up to 168lbs and dethroned Canelo in an upset victory, before retiring from the sport three months later.
While ‘Bud’ may have hung up the gloves, that hasn’t stopped Canelo from trying to secure a rematch, with those calls only intensifying over the past week after the Mexican superstar won the WBC super-middleweight title against Christian Mbilli.
Some of boxing’s biggest names have already made their thoughts clear on how a rematch between Crawford and Canelo could play out, with trainer James now the latest to offer his thoughts.
James knows what it is like to go up against both fighters, having trained Jermell Charlo for his September 2023 clash with Canelo, whilst also being in the corner for Errol Spence in his July 2023 battle against Crawford.
With those past experiences under his belt, along with watching the first fight between ‘Bud’ and Canelo, James has revealed to Fight Hub TV that he believes a second meeting would result in an even worse experience for Canelo.
“I don’t think [Canelo can win]. I think it’ll probably be worse because I think that in that fight, Crawford found something out. If you look at the last two rounds, Canelo quit. He stopped trying to win. You can tell from his expression he stopped trying, so I think Crawford would build off of that and go from that angle.”
For now Crawford remains out of the sport, but he has teased ending that retirement for fights with the likes of Ryan Garcia and Floyd Mayweather in recent days.
