The 34-year-old fighter is set to face Bud, 37, in Las Vegas on 13 September, and Mbilli, 30, has predicted Canelo will be too much for Crawford to handle due to his sheer size and power.

Speaking with Fight Hub, Mbilli said: “My favourite is Canelo because he’s bigger, and we’re going to see if Crawford is going to use the same strategy as Scull, but with more punches.

“But Canelo’s weight is bigger, and the weight will make the difference.”

The French boxer added he believes the clash would be “bad for boxing” if Crawford tries to imitate William Scull - who was defeated by Canelo by unanimous decision and lost the undisputed super middleweight championship to his opponent last month.

Mbilli explained: “I don’t think it’ll be the same with Crawford [fighting like Scull]. It’ll be bad for boxing if Canelo-Crawford makes the same fight. [Canelo] can knock him out. He can stop him.”

Even so, Mbilli said both the Canelo-Scull bout and Crawford’s last fight with Israil Madrimov - which saw Bud defeat his opponent to claim the WBA light-middleweight title in August 2024 - didn’t impress him.

He admitted: “I was not very impressed with Crawford’s last fight. And the Canelo fight, I wasn’t very impressed.”

Mbilli concluded he would be “a little bit” shocked if Crawford emerged victorious over Canelo.

Canelo recently said Crawford - the current unified welterweight and WBA junior middleweight champion - hadn’t defeated an “elite fighter” in his career.

He said of his opponent on the G.O.A.T.S. podcast: “He's a great fighter, but if you look up his career, mention one elite fighter. Just mention me one elite fighter.”

The Mexican boxer also said Crawford was “a great fighter, but he’s not Canelo”.

He said at a news conference: “They only focus on my power but I have more than that. This fight is going to be one of my best fights on my record.

“He's not going to beat me, don't worry about it.”