Before it became trendy to pick Terence Crawford to beat Canelo Alvarez, Shakur Stevenson did it first.

Officially, the two will fight on Sept. 13 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, with all the super middleweight titles on the line. For now, and for the first time in his career, Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) will be the underdog.

Oddsmakers aren’t downplaying Crawford’s skills and accomplishments, but to them weight classes matter. With the 37-year-old set to move up two weight divisions to face the current undisputed super middleweight champ, the literal odds are stacked against him.

When it comes to reverence, Stevenson has a lot for Alvarez. His accolades are endless and his skills are comparable to the best. He believe, however, that Alvarez has an issue with fighters who throw consistent and repetitive jabs.

“GGG [Gennadiy Golovkin], [Dmitry] Bivol, Floyd [Mayweather], I thought all of them had a great jab,” Stevenson told The Ring during a sitdown interview.

In some form or fashion, Mayweather, Golovkin, and Bivol stained Alvarez’s record. Mayweather and Bivol handed Alvarez (63-2-2, 39 KOs) his defeats, while Golovkin managed to place a controversial draw on his resume.

Crawford, in Stevenson’s opinion, has some of their attributes, particularly the jab. But he’ll have a major disadvantage when he walks into that ring.

Never has Crawford dealt with a fighter with this much strength and punching power, at least on paper. Yet, there was something about Alvarez that made Crawford abandon his WBA junior middleweight title he won against Israil Madrimov a year ago in Los Angeles, California.

It’s difficult pinpointing exactly what weaknesses Crawford spotted that made him believe he can end Alvarez’s reign. Stevenson, though, has a feeling he knows what he might be thinking.

“Him being a southpaw makes it a little harder for Canelo,” Stevenson said. “I think Canelo has some type of trouble with southpaws.”