Terence Crawford outboxed and conquered Canelo Alvarez by unanimous decision thirteen months ago, while Christian Mbilli fought in a firefight draw draw against Lester Martinez on their undercard at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
"Bud" doesn't see Mbilli (29-0-1, 24 KOs) enjoying similar success and beating Alvarez (63-3-2, 39 KOs) in defense of his WBC super middleweight title when they square off October 31 to headline a "Mexico vs. The World" event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
"I can't [give Mbilli any advice to beat Canelo] because styles make fights, and his style is tailor-made for Canelo," Crawford said on "The Fight" series on DAZN and TNT.
"He can't do anything but press Canelo. I don't see him beating Canelo in a boxing match. I think his best success will be letting his hands go, roughing Canelo up, and making it a dogfight."
Crawford's colleagues, Timothy Bradley and Shawn Porter, also don't see a path to victory for Mbilli.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCfQSRTqq4Q
"Mbilli is gonna be available for everything — uppercuts, body shots, left hooks — you name it," Bradley said.
"The activity of Mbilli can be bothersome. I'm not gonna lie. Now, if Canelo punches him, and it can't hurt him, and can't get his respect, then Mbilli's definitely in the fight. But I feel like Canelo's gonna be sitting down on those shots. He's gonna soften him up a bit. Canelo might even take a few [punches] and then land something big, hurt him, and then maybe even stop him late."
Porter said Mbilli has a similar pitbull-style attack to the one he possessed during his fighting days, but he must be defensively responsible while pouring on relentless pressure.
"I would tell Mbilli, while you're pushing back, make sure you're digging into the body and stepping around," Porter said. "I think the most important thing for him is to stay offline. He's going to be right in line for a right hand all night, because we know he's straight right there in front of you ... I got Canelo stopping Mbilli."
DAZN will offer the card headlined by Alvarez and Mbilli to subscribers of its Ultimate plan and on pay-per-view.
Manouk Akopyan is The Ring’s lead writer. Follow him on X and Instagram: @ManoukAkopyan.
