15-time NBA All-Star Shaquille O’Neal has become the butt of all the jokes on social media. This comes after the 52-year-old NBA legend decided to share his prediction for the highly anticipated and much talked about fight between Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford which has been finalized for September at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

Unified super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez made a fool out of Jake Paul to sign a lucrative four-fight deal with the Riyadh Season. The first fight in this deal will see Canelo fight William Scull on May 3rd for undisputed status, and September is set for Crawford. Regardless, when a reporter pressed Shaq about his prediction for the Canelo-Crawford mega-fight, he seemed confident in his prediction.  

Shaquille O’Neal makes a knockout prediction

When asked by the reporter, O’Neal confidently picked Terence Crawford to dominate Canelo Alvarez on September 13. When pressed for an explanation, the four-time NBA champion simply stated, “Because he is the best ever.” But he didn’t stop there—doubling down on his bold prediction, Shaq went a step further, declaring that Crawford would knock out Canelo Alvarez.

To put things into perspective, Crawford will climb two weight classes to fight Canelo at 168 lbs, who has reigned supreme in the division for years at this point. On top of that, Crawford’s performance against Israil Madrimov last year at 154 lbs in LA saw ‘Bud’ not in his best form. 

And this was just in the 154-pound division. There’s an argument to be made that Crawford has a better knockout ratio compared to Canelo, who hasn’t knocked out anyone in his last six fights. However, the question is, will Crawford’s power translate at 168 lbs? Also, Bud Crawford is almost 38 years old, whereas Canelo is 34. Can he be as agile in the division given his advanced age?

Not to mention, while Canelo hasn’t ended fights with knockouts, he has dropped all his opponents—Edgar Berlanga, Jaime Munguia, and others he has fought recently. Regardless, when fans discovered O’Neal’s prediction on social media, let’s just say, they had a lot to say about it. 

O’Neal asked to stick to the NBA after Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford prediction

There’s no doubt that Terence Crawford is a great boxer, but even fans couldn’t justify O’Neal’s out-of-touch prediction for the fight. One user asked the NBA legend to go back to the sport he knows best. “Stick to the NBA Crawford is not knocking out Canelo,” the user commented. However, it’s more likely that O’Neal is a big Crawford fan, and can’t help but show his love for the Nebraskan.

Another user pointed out Crawford’s last fight at 154 lbs. “Crawford couldn’t even KO Madrimov!!! Go watch that Fight Shaq!!! He ain’t knocking Canelo 😂,” the user wrote. However, Crawford can’t be overlooked entirely. After all, the Errol Spence Jr. fight was supposed to be competitive, but Crawford destroyed Spence in eight rounds.

The next user seemed to have the same idea. “lol 😂 he doesn’t have the power to knock out iron chin Canelo lol 😂 he didn’t have it at 154 so how’s he going to have it at 168?” the user wrote. Interestingly, Canelo Alvarez has never been knocked down, so Crawford knocking him out is indeed a farfetched dream.

Someone else mocked Shaquille O’Neal for his wild prediction. “That is why you play basketball 😂😂😂,” the user commented. However, ‘Shaq’ seems to be a long-time boxing fan, and everyone is entitled to have their opinion.

Meanwhile, this user roped in Gennady Golovkin to get his point across. “If GGG can’t sleep Canelo nobody can point blank period,” the user wrote. Notably, after the Canelo trilogy, ‘GGG’ never fought again.

That said, while Shaquille O’Neal seems to think Terence Crawford will dominate Canelo Alvarez in September, fans clearly feel otherwise. But the question is, what do you think about ‘Shaq’s prediction?