Throughout the buildup to Saturday's superfight in Las Vegas between undisputed 168-pound champion Canelo Alvarez and unbeaten Terence Crawford, much of the narratives have surrounded size. 

Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs), just two years removed from dismantling Errol Spence Jr. in their undisputed welterweight title clash, will essentially be moving up three weight divisions to challenge Alvarez (63-2-2, 39 KOs) when the two meet (Netflix, 9 p.m. ET) in the first combat sports event inside Allegiant Stadium. 

How might Crawford, who turns 38 later this month, deal with the size of Alvarez's power, not to mention the increased physicality that comes with facing the 35-year-old Mexican icon, who previously won a world title at 175 pounds, has only lost to two all-time greats (Floyd Mayweather, Dmitry Bivol) and owns one of the sturdiest chins in boxing history? 

Make no mistake about it, should Crawford pull the upset this weekend and make boxing history as the first in the four-belt era to become undisputed champion in three different weight divisions, and do so by defeating a fellow pound-for-pound stalwart who is 11-0 as a super middleweight and the best boxer of the post-Floyd Mayweather/Manny Pacquiao era, it will be seen as a historic feat. 

In fact, it wouldn't be out of the question to see a Crawford win compared with that of Roy Jones Jr. moving up from light heavyweight to win a heavyweight title in 2003, Sugar Ray Leonard coming out of retirement to defeat Marvin Hagler in his 1987 middleweight debut or Pacquiao rising in weight to win world titles in a record eight divisions. It's the kind of capstone victory that would allow Crawford to almost double his legacy and possibly gain consideration among the P4P best in the history. 

Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford fight: Five biggest storylines to watch in the undisputed title showdown

Brian Campbell

But if the upset happens, Crawford's trainer Brian "BoMac" McIntyre believes it will have almost nothing to do with size, or the natural weight difference between them, at all. 

"I'm not sick of people talking about the weight because the more doubters, the bigger the win will be," McIntyre said at Tuesday's grand arrivals. "I think the difference is the IQ. If you look at Canelo, he has been fighting a certain way for a certain amount of years. But if you look at Bud, he changes his style in the midst of a fight. I think the IQ is going to be the factor."

On the surface, Crawford is certainly more skilled and versatile than Alvarez, even at his advanced age. "Bud" can switch stances at will, has incredible accuracy, world-class footwork and a mean streak as a finisher that is comparable historically to Leonard. If Crawford wasn't this dynamic, a fight of this magnitude for a boxer who has just one career fight as high as 154 pounds (when he edged out unbeaten Israil Madrimov last summer) wouldn't be possible at super middleweight.  

But the reason Crawford remains just a slight betting underdog despite yielding advantages like size, age, power and recent activity to his opponent goes deeper than the fact that Alvarez is considered to have slow feet for an elite fighter, or the fact that many believe Alvarez isn't as hungry in recent years (which includes outright ducking David Benavidez and not scoring a knockout in four years). 

A big part of the reason is because the supposed size advantage of Alvarez might be overrated. 

Crawford is not only an inch taller than Alvarez, he will hold a reach advantage of nearly four inches. And all of the faceoffs between them throughout a three-city press tour to announce the fight showed Crawford to be visibly equal in size, including the Las Vegas stop in July when Crawford got in Alvarez's face and shoved him. 

The truth is that Crawford, a former high school wrestler in his native Omaha, Nebraska, has unnatural physical strength for a man as wiry as he looks when cutting down to 147 pounds. Not to mention, the shirtless pictures that Crawford shared last week on social media showed him to have added a stunning amount of muscle to his frame while still remaining incredibly lean. 

According to McIntyre, his fighter will be boxing at his natural, walk-round weight on Saturday, so the threat of whether the added strength will affect Crawford negatively isn't a topic they are willing to entertain. 

"[Crawford] is stronger. Look at him [and tell me] who is the biggest [of the two fighters]," McIntyre said. "I'm not going to say he added muscle, I'm just going to say he got stronger."

When it comes to adding said muscle, Crawford also appears to have done so in a very calculated way that could prove to be the difference in the fight. 

Crawford hasn't cut down to 147 pounds since defeating Spence in 2023. And even though he has fought just once since then, compared to four times for the consistent Alvarez, the time off has allowed Crawford first to test himself at 154 pounds against Madrimov one year ago before focusing exclusively on preparing for Alvarez over the past year (which included a stretch before the fight was announced when "Bud" declared he would either fight Alvarez next or retire if he couldn't secure the bout). 

Jermell Charlo, on the other hand, made the same move up to challenge Alvarez in a different manner and the results were disastrous. Charlo, then the undisputed 154-pound champion, moved up two divisions to face Alvarez in 2023 but never bulked up or altered his body. 

Not only did Charlo get dropped early by Alvarez, he lost nearly every round and was never in the fight against his more physically dominant opponent.

Crawford, who has historically been a man of few words, has heard all of the theories as to why he can't defeat Alvarez but hasn't let any of it affect his confidence or motivation. 

"I think people are underestimating everything about me but that doesn't matter," Crawford said at Wednesday's media day. "The power is definitely going to come with [the move up in weight]. That's not any worries that I ever had."

Asked whether Crawford has the power to gain the respect of the iron-chinned Alvarez, McIntyre didn't hesitate. 

"[Alvarez] is going to respect something [and] if we hurt Canelo, we [are] going in for the kill. Trust me," McIntyre said. "It's going to be a landslide. People get mad at me because they think I'm disrespecting Canelo but I'm not. I haven't seen him rise to the level of competition [in a long time]. And this level of competition that he's going to see on Saturday is the highest level he can even imagine."

Alvarez hasn't fought an opponent that the general public believed could beat him since 2022 when he was soundly beaten by Bivol in a fight that was only close on the final scorecards. If this were the Alvarez of five years ago, the outcome probably wouldn't be in doubt but Alvarez has far more mileage on him than Crawford despite holding a three-year age advantage considering Alvarez, a veteran of 67 fights, turned pro some 20 years ago as a teenager. 

Interestingly enough, the majority of current and retired fighters who have given public predictions have chosen Crawford. And even those picking Alvarez have typically closed their pick by hedging with the same line of: "If anyone can do it, however, it's probably Crawford."

Luckily for "Bud," that plays entirely into his mindset. Despite his incredible career, it took until the Spence fight for him to truly get his flowers from those who criticized the lack of big names on his resume. 

Maybe the focus shouldn't be on the size of Alvarez in this fight and, instead, on the size of the chip that remains on the hungry Crawford's shoulder. This is, after all, the same person who had a bullet graze his skull after a 2008 incident as a teenager following a dice game, which ended with Crawford driving himself to the hospital in a moment he has long declared as not only life changing but the turning point in him dedicating his all to his boxing craft. 

Asked what excites him the most about fighting Alvarez and Crawford was direct. 

"Shutting everybody up," Crawford said. "Everybody is entitled to their opinion. What one thinks of me doesn't move me or anything. They can't fight for him and they can't fight for me. Their opinion doesn't matter in my eyes or my feeling because I have been doubted my whole career in boxing. 

"I've been told I will never be where I am at. I was told that I need to get another job because I won't ever be a world champion. So many things that I have been told my entire life and I'm just like, 'OK, just watch me do it.' With my self belief, I don't care what nobody else says because I'm comfortable in my own skin."