Andre Ward & Roy Jones Jr. Preview Canelo Vs. Crawford SUPERFIGHT

0:00What up? It's your boy Roy Jones Jr. I'm hanging out with my man Andre Ward. We threw Hall of Famers to bring y 'all a new show called The Hall of Game. A show where we discuss boxing, sports, life, and entertainment from our view. How much better than that can you get? Me and Roy don't always agree, but one thing you will get is a Hall of Fame worth a game. Roy Rogers. What's up, man? Let's get into it, man. You know where I'm going with this first topic. I want to get into the biggest fight in boxing right now. Canelo Alvarez and Terrence Crawford. September 13th, Mexican Independence Day at Allegiant Stadium.

0:42As the fight gets closer, we're going to get more in depth about the X's and O's and what each guy needs to do. But when you first hear about this fight at a high level, how do you see this fight playing out? Well, when I first hear about it Dre, I like a lot of things about the fight. I like that Bud took his time when it beefed up early because he knew it was coming. So when you got time to get ready and get right, that's a big thing. You can't take nothing away from Canelo. Canelo has been there for a while. Great puncher, great boxer puncher. If Bud can take the punch, which we're pretty sure he can do, we're going to have a good fight on our hands.

1:18I think there are several ways for Bud to win it, but one way for Canelo to lose it. I ain't going to disclose none of that, but that's just my thoughts. We'll do that as we get closer. Exactly. But do you feel comfortable saying who the winner, who you think the winner gonna be? No, I'm not gonna say I'm gonna feel comfortable saying it because I like both guys. And when you got two guys of their caliber, you can't really count either guy out. You know that yourself. Bud is a champion. That says a lot. And on top of that, Bud is still hungry. You understand me? Canelo did his thing too, but I don't know if he got that hunger still left in him.

1:57You understand me? And that's what I think, that's the only thing that bothers me. If he's still hungry, then we in for a good night. But if he's not hungry, it's gonna be rough. Yeah, I agree, man. I know it's gonna be a great fight. And it's not a lot of matchups in boxing that you can guarantee a great night. Like you can guarantee it's gonna be a great fight. Without a question. And I say that because just following both guys throughout the years, they both got the intangibles, the stuff you can't see unless you know what you're looking at, the stuff it ain't an X and O thing, it's here. It's that stubbornness for greatness.

2:34Like Canelo, though he's had some mishaps, he's had some draws, he's had some losses, I feel like if you ask Canelo what happened there, he's got a perfectly good reason why that happened. Exactly. That's everybody in boxing. Right, right. He don't have a definitive loss per se. I mean, Bivol, but you know, he can still say, I moved up and wait. Yeah, yeah. Or, you know, no, I thought I won that. He hasn't been, like, beat up ever in his career. Now, Floyd dominated him, and to a degree, Floyd beat him up to a degree from a boxing standpoint, not like, you know, bloody, but just frustrated him, had too much skill, all that stuff.

3:12So I feel like even though Canelo has had some mishaps, the confidence is still there because he's like, I got a good reason why I had a couple of draws and I had a couple of losses. But Terrence, he's never been turned away as a professional. He's never been beaten. And we don't have a blueprint on how to beat him. At all. You know what you're looking at, every fighter has holes, every fighter has weaknesses, but nobody's been able to exploit his weaknesses to a point where he can take an L. So for me, it's a dangerous fight for both guys. People think the danger is just going Canelo's way to Crawford.

3:47No, they're both dangerous. And I think both fighters understand that. And it's not even the skill stuff, it's this. His mentality is, man, I got to win or die. Anything can happen. Now, I'm not going to give my full breakdown just yet. I don't see a scenario where Canelo can outwork Terrence Crawford round after round and win on a points decision. I think he's either going to have to hurt him and then finish him or just knock him out. And I think Terrence Crawford obviously can win on points. He's more active. He's going to be throwing more punches. And here's the thing, bro, he can also hurt Canelo.

4:25And when you hurt somebody, you don't always see a visible leg shake. Fighters are resilient. They'll poker face that thing and you'll never know. But both fighters got to respect the other person's power. And like you said to me, when you're saying this, that's the same thing I'm saying when I say hunger. That hunger has to be there. We know Bud keep that hunger because he want to win. He never lost. Because Canelo, we don't know if he got the hunger still. And I think he still does. I mean, to what degree, you gotta see when it gets rough. But I think he still has that. I think he still has it.

4:57Okay. If he has it, it's gonna be, we in for a great night. But they both gonna need it. Of course they are. September 13th, they both gonna need it. Of course they are. And no matter what the fans say, no matter what we say, they both know that. Of course. You know, as this fight gets closer, we gonna get more into the punch for punch and X's and those, but I like talking about everything surrounding the fight. When you saw the fighters around each other interacting, when you saw the press conference, people say, oh, who won the press conference? I don't think nobody wins a press conference, but you do get to pick up on some things.

5:28What did you pick up when you saw the press tour? What I picked up on was that Dr. Canelo tried to see if he could punk, bud, and that didn't work. So, boxing one, X, that didn't work. You understand me? So we on the number two now, but I think the initial thing was, nah, that didn't work. How you think he tried to punk him? Well, anyway, I think he did push him or something, right? Yeah. He pushed him. But Bud pressed up on him first though. Bud pretty much walked him down and said - Yeah, but they both trying each other. You know what I'm saying? But when he pushed Bud, it let Bud know you ain't gonna run over me too.

6:01But to me, that's Canelo also trying to say, hey, I'm bigger, I'm stronger. I'm gonna let you feel my weight right quick. You know, so when you touch a guy in boxing, you know what that means. Yeah. You're fitting me out trying to see where we at. You understand me? So keep your hands off me. And you're really not supposed to be putting your hands on me. That's why I said keep your hands off me. So he did it though. But I respect what Canelo did too, because you're not going to walk me down either. That's true too. Because I feel what you're trying to do there too. You may not have put your hands on me, but you bodying me and you're trying to press me back to send me a message and we can't go for that.

6:29Exactly. But I liked it. I think both fighters got just as much as they gave. You know, everybody's so quick to want to pick a winner and pick this and that. Man, when you got skill set at this level, when you got this level of stubbornness, when you got this much experience, when you got dudes that haven't been turned away either at all in Terrence Crawford's or in Canelo's case very often, you can't pick a clear cut winner. You never can. That's why I said that night gonna tell the story. But going in, we all have our favorites in the way we think, but we never know until we see. Because like you say, if Canelo come out of that thing hungry, it'll be a tough night.

7:12Talk to me about the weight jump. You had a significant weight jump from... I mean, you went all the way up. I think you started 54, right around 56, 54. And you ended up becoming the heavyweight champion of the world. There's a lot of weight classes in between that, but you did a big jump from 75 to 200. Was it 200? Right on 205? 200. Yeah. So what is that? 85, no, 25 pounds. Bud is campaigned at 35, 40, 47. Then he jumped up to 154 pound division, a junior middleweight to fight Majimov. And a lot of people had a lot to say about that performance. Then he says, okay, I'm going two more weight classes.

7:51I'm skipping 60 and I'm going to meet you at 68. What I know about Bud, and I don't have no numbers or no personal knowledge from that standpoint, but Bud gets big in between fights. Some of it is just normal fat because you eat what you want to eat, but some of it is muscle. I don't think people realize how much he's been boiling down to make 40 and even 47. So now people are seeing him and they're like, oh my God, he's so big. And really, I'm just not having to boil myself down. That's all it is. I can eat more, still train hard, but eat more. how much of a factor is the weight going to be in this fight?

8:25I don't think the weight is going to be a factor at all, mainly because what you just said, especially for him, when you have to boil down to 47, he's coming from 75 or 80. He's going to have to boil down to 68 now. You understand me? Because I'm sure he went above 68 before he started training. So it's like when you've got to boil down to whatever, you're still boiling down. That boiling down process, your body understands. Once your body starts knowing, starts to realize or understand what you're doing, your body knows where to go right away. You understand me? When you see your opponent, your body knows right then where we going.

9:00You understand? So your body's like, when I would get to a press conference, like before the fight started, like the first, the initial press conference we have, the initial press conference, my body changes from that day. My body started like, I don't even want soda. I don't even want candy. because my body knows, oh yeah. It's work time. You feel me? Yeah, I'm so informed. So his body knows the same thing. So the fact that this time, it ain't like when I went up the heavyweight, he's actually got to boil down to the super middle. That's what else people don't know. I had to go up. I had to eat and lift my way up.

9:32He's boiling down still, just like Canelo is, to make 68. You understand? That's a different ballgame. That's a different animal. Now, he may not put on as much as Canelo would put back on, But he gonna put on a little bit. I think it's gonna be a factor, but I don't think it's gonna be de-factor. No. I think Terrence is gonna, he's gonna feel it. He gonna feel it when they get inside. He's going to, I think, feel it when the punches land, when he gets a certain reaction. He may not get that reaction, at least early, from Canelo. And that's not just because Canelo has a sturdy frame or he's bigger, but Canelo's got underrated defense.

10:05You know, he don't move his legs a lot, but it's more from the waist up. Right? So, I think it'll be a factor, but not that big of a factor. but it's a good point that you made. When I went up to light heavyweight, I followed in your footsteps and I went and consulted with Mackie Shieldstone in New Orleans. And Mackie, he's got the experience, but he's also working off of science too. He says, first time I ever heard about a DEXA scan. He said, you got to get a DEXA scan. Went in there and that tells you bone density, body fat, all that stuff. And I kept telling him, I'm like, man, I'm going up to 75, I'm going up to 75.

10:40He said, you're not going up to 75. You're still cutting weight. He said, you see the Dexa? You're 188. He said, you're cutting to make 175. And I just sat there for a second. I was like, dang, you right. Exactly. He said, you're not going up in weight. You're just not losing as much. As much, exactly. And he put it in perspective for me. And that's the same exact thing that's going on with Terrence Crawford. I don't know what he weighs. But if I had to guess, I think he for sure high 70s. I think he mid to high 80s. Maybe even high 80s, mid to high 80s. So it will be a factor, but I don't think it's going to be that amount of factor.

11:19But what about the punching power? Because I'm watching some tape this morning, right? And, you know, I'm just looking. I don't think Terrence Crawford going to stop hitting hard all of a sudden at 37, 38 years old. He's not. The thing about it is what people fail to realize is it's about technique. When you can punch, and you know this too, when you can punch, it don't matter how much you weigh, you can punch. See what they don't realize is when I fought John Ruiz, I still was 26 pounds lighter than him. You understand me? But the punching power shocked him. You understand me? Then you go back, Holyfield fought Lennox Lewis, he fought a lot, Riddick Bowe, he fought all those big guys.

11:58But those big guys had to respect his punching power. Because of the punching power, he was able to get the respect because he had technical co-punching power. Not just by luck or not a guy who just could box but when he went up and wait, his technique went out the window. No. When your technique go up with you, you're going to stay powerful. And that's what I think will happen here. Now, Bud has never been really known, well neither one of them truly haven't been really known as one-punch knockout guys. That's what us people don't realize. Canelo has not been known as a one-punch knockout guy.

12:27Yeah, he got two. The kid from Texas who was your suspect chin and Con who we know was three weight classes up and ain't been known for the best chin. But then the only two guys he got was knockout punches, one shot. Everybody else has kind of been accumulation, if he knocked them out. You understand me? And Bud, the same thing. Bud got maybe one or two one-punch knockouts, but most of them are accumulation. So neither guy, to me, has been known for having a super punching power. But if Bud has his extra weight on, his punching power might increase with the weight. Mine did. If he keeps the weight on right.

13:04Yeah. But the question is, which everybody's asking, and Terrence is going to have to answer this, is can he take Canelo's shot? That's what I said. That's the first thing we've got to figure out. Can he take that shot? Because, yeah, you could do it in 16-ounce gloves. It's fine. Well, when I did it, I did it in 16-ounce gloves. It was different, but I was like, okay, yeah, I can deal with this. But when you get in that heavyweight fight with them 10s, and that 10s scrape that chin, now you find out what the real facts are. You feel me? The head game didn't want. That's 10 scrapes that chin, you know?

13:35Now you find out what the truth is. And that's why I say there are a lot of questions that are going to have to be answered on that night. No matter how much we sit there and go back and forth, no matter how much the coaches and the trainers go back and forth, the questions are really going to be answered right there in that square. Because he got to be able to take his punch and he got to know how to fight him. Simple. That's the main two things. Can you take his punch and do you know how to fight him because like you said that realtor has never been solved? You understand me, but he is way up away So can you take his punch you can you do what nobody else has done?

14:09Can you solve that riddle? What type of mindset does does bud have to have to want to jump up there? And what type of mindset does Canelo have to have to say man I'm facing the dude that if I beat him they gonna say he was too small but he's dangerous enough to beat me. So they both got two different mindsets when they said yes to this fight. Yeah, they do have two different mindsets, but Canelo, right, if he loses, they're going to say you lost to a smaller guy. But this smaller guy... Bad man. ...is the only guy to ever be undisputed champion in three weight classes. I think he going for three times right now.

14:46Oh, he going for three times. Yeah, okay, we're going for three. Okay, I thought he didn't want three. But anyway, this ain't no ordinary small guy. That's right. You understand me? When John Rhys lost to Roy Jones, he didn't lose to no ordinary small guy. You understand me? So if you lose Canelo, you're not losing to an ordinary small guy. So you better take that in mind before you even think like that. You understand me? But on the other hand, if you lose, a lot of people ain't giving you a chance against Canelo anyway because you started at 135, right? But if you win, your name got to go up there with Usyk amongst the best.

15:19You understand me? Because Usyk's name has clearly risen to the top of the heavyweight chain because of what he's been able to do. You understand me? So you beat Canelo, your name going to the top of that chain too because you're going to be the three-weight division unspewned champ. You understand me? Canelo, if he's able to pull this off, he got to get full credit for this. He does because he didn't have to take it. Because he wasn't calling Terrence out. He wasn't trying to chase, you know, a smaller man and nothing like that. But his name kept getting called and he answered the call. Turkey made it to a point where it's probably hard to say no.

15:52Good thing that Andre, what I'm happy about too though, is guess what? They having a big fight, a showdown fight, but they both getting paid for their efforts. Hello. Both getting paid for their efforts. How many times did we do that and not get paid for our effort? But we love the sport, so we did it because we love the sport. They're both getting paid for their effort. That's why I get a lot of questions about Turkey. What do you think? What do you think? What do you think? And my thing is, I don't know what I think. Just wait and see. Give it some time. I don't like that he did this and that.

16:23Give it some time because I don't care who was at the helm of the sport or who was the top promoters, top couple promoters. Ain't nobody a saint where they not doing nothing. Everybody's got their way of doing things and not everybody's going to like it. But one thing you cannot say about Turkey is that he's not paying these guys. For so long in boxing, it's high risk, the least amount of reward. And the Suits and everybody else who's not getting hit, we want to try to see if you know enough to say something, because if not, then we're going to chop this up and then give you what... That's the most you ever made.

16:57That's not the point. The point is, is I deserve this and you're giving me something less than that. So one thing you cannot take from Turkey Al-Sheik is that he is paying these fighters. He's changing some of their lives. Even the guys that ain't elite guys, guys that may make 500, now they making two, making a million, making 800. Man, I respect that. Yeah, I do too. And I got it while we on that subject. I got to say the same thing about Jake Paul. You know, he doing the same thing for the women. He making the women more money than they ever dreamed of making. And to see him do that, my hat goes off the same with both of them.

17:28Because when you paying fighters what they deserve or they're giving them what they just do, I got to give you credit for that. He giving them the exposure too. Of course. Rob Markman, The People That Say That, and I said this on the air for Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano, a lot of people, nobody wants to see women's boxing. Those narratives start to live out there, right? But he's giving them, he's not only paying them, but he's putting them in position, visibility so you can see them. So you said, man, I'm going to put you in position. You say you can fight, I'm about to put you in position so we can see.

17:56So you got to respect that man with him and what Nikisa are doing, man. It's a dope thing. How did you deal with your big pressure moments? I'm not saying like the night of the fight. I'm saying in training camp, I'm talking about when you know you fighting another reel. Yeah. How did you deal with it throughout training camp? For me, man, I grew up on a farm and I watched a lot of animals. And with animals, any day, a tougher opponent or a worthy opponent may turn that corner. So I learned as a kid that every day is a good day, but be ready. Because you never know what might turn that corner.

18:37So I didn't talk a lot of smack, because you can't talk smack until you did that, in my opinion. That's how I was taught. The animal didn't crow, or the animal didn't roar, or they didn't mate until they handled their business. You understand me? Then they did. They talking, they roaring, they crowing, or whatever, you know? I was taught that you handled your business first, then you talked. no, no, you're not no chump. You're not gonna let anybody just come up on you and talk any kind of way. Like Canelo got him back off him because that's a form of disrespect. You understand me? So you're not gonna allow that, but it's like, you know, when I was in training camp for those big fights, I looked at every day like I was happy.

19:17I know this is my chance to show people what I really am, who I really am, and that's what I live for. So I loved it. When I'm dealing with pressure, I get quiet. I get quiet. Especially as the fight gets closer. It's almost like I'm, you know, it's like the lion, right? Like the lion is storing up energy all day in the wild because he got to hunt. And I don't know, I may fight for my life while I'm going to hunt for my family. So, you know, there was times that I would have a good time with my team during camp and we'd laugh and share some laughs. But for me, the pressure was always there. Because Virgis to tease me, you know, on my bad days, man, he said, man, you a head case.

20:07Because I just wanted everything to be perfect. I make it out the ring like, man, we three weeks out, man, I look terrible today. He said, what you mean you look terrible? You came in here tired, and you went 10 rounds. You didn't look great, but you got through. He's always trying to find that silver lining. And, you know, I like to call myself a recovering perfectionist. You know what I'm saying? I'm working on it. But I hadn't lost Roy in a long time, man. So I was 12 years old, 13 years old. He's like, man, it would have been good for you to take that L to get that pressure off of you early on.

20:38I'm like, why are you saying that? Because I carried a lot. So I had the pressure of who I was dealing with, but I also had my personal pressure. I'm thinking about the media and they got their laptops open and they, you know, they ringside and they waiting tonight, tonight. I'm thinking about that. I'm thinking about what I'm going to feel like on Sunday morning when I wake up and realize, hey man, like, man ain't going my way last night. I'm thinking about all that stuff, plus my opponent. And for me and camp, for my big fights, when I start getting like three weeks out, two weeks out, my sleep start getting disrupted.

21:12Well now, when camp first started, I'm so tired, I'm sleeping deep, 10 hours. Now I'm, you know, I'm here and there with it. I'm napping. Even at night, it's like I sleep, but I wake up in cold sweats when the fight would get closer and it was just my mind and my body letting me know that it's almost there. But I learned, man, at a young age, how to handle that pressure my way, because we all feel it. Of course. And the fear. Of course. You have thoughts. Man, what if this is the last time I get in the ring? What if I don't... I know they got plans for after the fight, we got a vacation plan, but what if I don't make it out?

21:49That's stuff you really think about. Of course. I think the great ones just find a way to deal with the pressure the way they deal with it. When I look at Crawford, this is the biggest fight he's ever been in. Canelo has more big fight experience, but Crawford's been in big moments. He's had the pressure of being undefeated. He's dealt with all the stuff you can deal with in boxing. So it's just interesting thinking about how is he dealing with the pressure going into this fight? And then even Canelo, even though Canelo's been in big moments, brother, you got to figure it out again because you got him on the other side now.

22:27So I just wonder like, what's your thoughts on what they dealing with right now? Though they have experience, though they accomplished and all that stuff, you still got to deal with it every time out. That's very true, but it's like Honestly man when I fought John Reese I Was in James Tornan I was so I Was so focused That Losing was not an option. You know what I mean? I had no time That was the only time though When that and probably the second Montel Griffin fight then was the only time that I thought that Ain't no such thing as I'm not going to be here tomorrow. You understand me? Because I'm definitely winning these.

23:16You understand me? The rest of the time, when I fight people who weren't supposed to beat me, I go back by my house. I want to see all my stuff because I want to see all my animals and stuff because this may be the last time I've seen. You understand me? That was one of my things. I go to training camp before I go to report to the site. I come up by my house for two days, look at all my animals, everything I love about my life. then I go fight because I may never see it again. That's how I took 95 % of my fights. But those three, even if I did it, which I don't remember if I did it or not, but those three, it wasn't a doubt in my mind if I was coming back because that's just how made up my mind was.