Danny Jacobs Believes Terence Crawford Can Challenge Canelo Alvarez At 168 Pounds

Danny Jacobs, a former middleweight champion, thinks Terence Crawford’s technical abilities could help him close the gap and potentially defeat the larger, stronger undisputed 168-pound champion Canelo Alvarez next year.

Jacobs believes that former three-division world champion Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs) possesses enough skill to move up two weight divisions from 154 to potentially face Canelo (61-2-2, 39 KOs) at 168 in 2025. However, Crawford must first win his upcoming bout against Israil Madrimov, the WBA junior middleweight champion, scheduled for August 3rd at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles. Jacobs views this as a challenging fight for Crawford due to Madrimov’s power and talent, noting that Madrimov is bigger and stronger than anyone Crawford has faced in his 16-year career.

Jacobs didn’t bring up Crawford’s age, as he turns 37 in September and isn’t as youthful as he once was. Crawford, originally from Nebraska, is roughly the same age as Jacobs, who is also considered past his prime. At this stage, it’s a bold move for Crawford to move up in weight, especially after a long layoff of more than a year.

“Skills sometimes pay the bills, and we know that Crawford has the skills or Canelo,” said Danny Jacobs to the media.

Skills often benefit fighters who compete outside their natural weight class, but for Crawford, this represents a significant weight increase from his last fight at 147 pounds against Errol Spence on July 29, 2023. Moving up to super middleweight would mean a 21-pound jump for Crawford. Although he is fighting at 154 pounds against Madrimov on August 3rd, it still entails a 14-pound increase to face Canelo in 2025. 

Ideally, Crawford should consider stopping at 160 pounds and engaging in a transitional bout to ease his move up in weight. A suitable opponent for Crawford at middleweight would be IBF/WBO champion Janibek Alimkhanuly. Winning that fight could pave the way for Crawford to move up to 168 pounds and challenge Canelo for his four belts.

“Sometimes power, weight, and experience in that. So, it’ll be a good test for Crawford, but the fans are the winner in that particular fight if it pans out,” Jacobs remarked.