Local fight folks lean toward Canelo in Saturday's fight

Sorry, Bud.

Among 10 members of the New Mexico boxing community approached by the Journal, eight predicted that Saul “Canelo” Alvarez will defeat Terence “Bud” Crawford when two of the world’s greatest fighters clash on Saturday in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Favoring Alvarez (62-2-2, 39 knockouts): Hobbs promoter/matchmaker Isidro Castillo; Las Cruces boxer Samantha Ginithan; Albuquerque boxer Matt Griego-Ortega; Albuquerque former boxer Stephanie Jaramillo; Albuquerque trainer Yoruba Moreu and his son, boxer Yoruba Moreu Jr.; Albuquerque boxer Jason Sanchez, and his brother and fellow boxer Jose Luis “Guero” Sanchez.

Picking Crawford (41-0, 31 knockouts): Albuquerque trainers Steve Garcia and Anthony Rosales.

For those picking Alvarez, the size difference between the two men was paramount. Though both men are expected to weigh in on Friday at or just below the super middleweight limit of 168 pounds, Crawford will be fighting at that weight for the first time.

Crawford has contested most of his fights at lightweight (135 pounds), junior welterweight (140) and welterweight (147). In his most recent bout, fighting for the first time at the 154-pound super welterweight limit, he won, but had one of his least impressive showings in defeating Israil Madrimov by unanimous decision.

Alvarez began his professional career at 140 pounds as a teenager but gradually ascended to 147, 154, 160, 168 and even the light heavyweight limit of 175. Of his most recent 12 fights, 11 have been contested at super middleweight.

“I’m going for Canelo,” Jason Sanchez said via social media. “I think Crawford is good, but he’s jumping up a few weight classes and that’s the advantage Canelo’s gonna have in the later rounds.”

Sanchez’s brother, “Guero,” put it more succinctly in picking Álvarez by KO: “Crawford is a little guy.”

Griego-Ortega said he’d like to see Crawford win, but, “I think the power behind the weight is going to be something Crawford isn’t used to. I think maybe, split decision Canelo.”

For Jaramillo, her prediction is less about the size differential than about who Alvarez is as a fighter.

“I feel he’s going to dominate the fight,” Jaramillo wrote. “Canelo is like Roy Jones Jr. Everybody used to say he was fighting nobodies, old people, not in their prime.

“It’s because he’s so good, he would make them look like nobodies, and that’s what Canelo does. Canelo with a unanimous decision.”

No one among the responders, though, sees this as an easy victory for Alvarez.

“Tough choice,” Ginithan wrote. “It’s a 50-50 fight, in my opinion, but I’m taking Canelo by decision. He has more experience in a bigger weight class.”

Castillo predicted an Alvarez victory by 11th-round TKO, but “in an absolute war.”

Of the dissenters, Rosales responded, simply, “I’m picking Crawford.”

Garcia said he believed the refuse-to-lose mentality that has produced Crawford’s unblemished record will serve him well on Saturday.

“Crawford,” Garcia wrote. “He has the heart and the will to do what it take to win.

“He has the lion mentality. Not afraid.”

As of Thursday, oddsmakers see Alvarez as a solid but not overwhelming favorite.

FURY FC 109: Russian lightweight MMA fighter Nikolay Kiosse (10-3-1) scored a major victory Sunday in Houston, defeating previously unbeaten Abdulaziz Datsilaev (5-1) by second-round KO on a Fury Fighting Championship card.

Kiosse trains in Albuquerque at Jackson-Wink.

Three other Jackson-Wink fighters didn’t fare as well.

Bantamweight Saul Elizondo (6-9) lost by first-round TKO to Antonio Figueiredo (5-0) of Houston.

Heavyweight Dwight Maters (3-2) lost by unanimous decision to Houston’s Terrance Chatman (3-0).

Strawweight Lydia Warren (3-2) lost by first-round submission (rear naked choke) to Anna Melisano of Birmingham, Alabama.