Greg Hackett does not do reruns. On Mill City Boxing, the Philadelphia trainer looked at a Terence Crawford vs Canelo Alvarez rematch and gave the same answer the first fight gave: Crawford. His reasoning starts with what he calls the IQ test. Crawford against Christian Mbilli would be two totally different fights, Hackett says, because Crawford can mentally surpass Canelo inside the ring — and he surpasses him in ability, skill set, reflexes and timing on top of it. That, in Hackett’s telling, is simply why he beat him. Canelo is “young but old”: like 70 professional fights will do that to a man. Still able, Hackett concedes — but done at the highest level, and unable to beat Crawford.
There is a deeper cut underneath the pick. The schooling Canelo carries into fights now was bought late, and it cost him losses to learn it — the loss to Floyd Mayweather made him a better fighter. Crawford never had to pay that tuition: the mental side was already there, while Canelo’s early advantages were the physical ones. It is the second straight Mill City appearance where Hackett has read Canelo’s age honestly — days ago he called Canelo an old man winning off his ghost after the Mbilli fight. Against Crawford, in his view, the ghost does not cash. The mind across from him is simply better.
Then the conversation jumps a division, and Hackett does something rare in boxing talk: he refuses to sell certainty he does not have. David Benavidez vs Oleksandr Usyk at cruiserweight is, in his words, a super fight — and a genuine 50-50 one between two undefeated fighters, a pick he flatly declines to make. The styles are the argument. Usyk brings footwork and IQ, he can move and get away, and he can really crack: he measures a shot so well he could hurt Benavidez catching him on the end of one. Benavidez brings size, a fast guns-blazing pace, and a habit of overwhelming and outworking men — if Usyk cannot keep him off, Usyk is in trouble. Inside, Benavidez excels, first with the faster hands and getting off first — but can he get his head off the line against Usyk’s counters and angles? Neither man has ever faced anybody like the other. It has to be seen.
Our take: Hackett’s two deciders are the honest ones — whether Usyk gets old that night, and whether Benavidez can take what Usyk measures out. His context on Usyk matters too: the champion is getting older himself, cruiserweight is his more natural weight, and the heavyweights at 250 to 260 pounds have simply become too big for him, which is what makes this fight make sense at all. Two undefeated men, no manufactured confidence, no fake pick — just a trainer admitting the only laboratory is the ring. That is the standard this sport’s talk should be held to. Make the fight, and let everybody find out together.
Video credit: Mill City Boxing.
