Canelo Vs. Crawford: Why Max Kellerman Sees Shades Of Marvin Hagler Vs. Roberto Duran 1983

Commentator Max Kellerman views the Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford matchup on September 13th as similar to the 1983 clash between unified middleweight champion Marvin Hagler and former lightweight Robert Duran.

Kellerman’s Canelo-Crawford, Hagler-Duran Comparison

Over the years, Duran had moved through the weight classes, from 135 to 154, before challenging Hagler for his IBF and WBC middleweight titles on November 10, 1983. Duran gave Hagler a tough time in losing a 15-round unanimous decision by the scores 144-142, 144-143, and 146-145.

Duran’s career was never the same after that fight. He was wiped out in his next contest, getting wiped out in two rounds, and continuing to lose against good opposition. While it is a nice story that Duran gave Hagler a tough time, he wasn’t the same fighter after that fight.

Crawford’s Age, Last Fight Concerns

Could we see the same thing happen to the 37-year-old Crawford? He’s even older than the then 32-year-old Duran was when he fought Hagler, and he looked terrible in his last fight against Israil Madrimov last August.

“He [Hagler] was the man at middleweight, just like Canelo is the man at super middleweight. He’s the [four belt undisputed] champ,” said Max Kellerman to Ring Magazine on X, comparing the Hagler vs. Duran fight to the Canelo vs. Crawford contest. “And Duran moved up from junior middleweight to middleweight, but he started at lightweight [correction: Duran started at super featherweight] just like Crawford.”

Hagler’s Pre-Duran Resume Examined

What Kellerman is overlooking is that Hagler hadn’t faced many high-level fighters during his career before fighting Duran. Marvin was the IBF and WBC middleweight champion at the time, but his resume was filled with numerous European and gatekeeper-level fighters. Hagler had been held to a draw by Vito Antuofermo, a fighter who lost twice to Alan Minter.

The other wins on Hagler’s resume were a mix of B and C-level fighters. There were no A-level or elite-level fighters that Marvin had fought before facing Duran. As such, it was no surprise that he struggled to beat the smaller, weaker, and older Roberto.

“Heading into that fight, I thought, ‘Hagler is going to kill him. He’s too big.’ That fight was nip and tuck all the way, and Hagler had to outwork him [Duran] in the 15th round to get a decision,” said Kellerman.

Kellerman’s Naive Hagler Overrating

As Max points out, he was just a kid when he watched the fight; hence, he’d naively overrated Hagler, not old enough to examine his resume to know that he’s beaten mostly ham and eggers and not the talented cream of the crop-level fighters. Older fans who followed the sport at the time recognized that Hagler might lose because he was finally facing an elite-level fighter, albeit a much smaller, weaker one.

“So, that’s the kind of fight I see here,” Kellerman said about the Canelo vs. Crawford contest. “I think this is going to be a very competitive fight.