The Only Sales Pitch
There was no scoring controversy. No robbery narrative. No disputed knockdowns. Crawford won clean. The only hook for a sequel is whether fans believe Canelo fought below his true capacity. That is where this gets difficult.
The version of Canelo that struggled with pace and foot speed against Crawford did not appear out of nowhere. In his previous fights against Jaime Munguia, Edgar Berlanga, and William Scull, similar signs were visible. He controlled those bouts and won them, but the urgency was measured, and the legs did not look explosive. The reaction time was not what it once was.
He could get through those nights without being pressed the way Crawford pressed him.
So when Canelo says the first fight was compromised by cramps and fatigue, fans have to decide what they believe. Was it a one night physical malfunction, or was it the same gradual erosion that has shown itself more than once?
Boxing fans are used to hearing post-loss explanations. Injuries happen. Bad nights happen. Aging happens, too. It rarely arrives all at once. It shows up in small moments. A half step slower. A beat late on the counter. A round lost because the legs do not fire.
The rematch turns on whether people believe him. If fans think he fought well below his best, they can picture it playing out differently next time. If they think that version is simply who he is now, there’s no mystery left. It just feels like going over the same ground again.
That’s the real hurdle. Convincing people that the first fight wasn’t the real version is the tough part.
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