Daring to Be Great: The Perils of Fighting Up in Weight

Is Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford biting off more than he can chew?

It took less than half a minute into the fight for Jermell Charlo to feel that this was going to be a long night.

His bout for all the marbles against Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez –- the undisputed super middleweight champion of the world -- was one he was expected to lose by all accounts. If he could last the distance, the public might award him a moral victory, but the consensus had already spoken: as a natural 154-pounder he was too small to truly compete with the 168-pound king.

As he absorbed the first few arm shots of the night, it became abundantly clear that the disparity in power between the two boxers was going to be an insurmountable disadvantage for Charlo; he was forced into constant retreat for the rest of the bout, fighting behind an ineffective offense, devoid of impact or creativity.

The script boxing fans had written before the opening bell was predictably fulfilled.

The landslide scorecards in Canelo's favor reaffirmed a time-tested theory in boxing: the great big fighter almost always beats the great small fighter. This was a dare-to-be-great moment for Charlo that never gained momentum, and for Canelo the victory did little to alter his standing in the sport.

Less than two years later, Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford, a reigning 154-pound champion, is crafting his own case for why he can succeed where Jermell Charlo fell short: to dare to be great against a bigger man and emerge victorious.

But as the old adage goes, history tends to repeat itself. The question remains: what can Crawford, the great smaller man, do differently to flip the script the public has already written for him?