Terence Crawford owes Turki Alalshikh a favor for picking him as the guy to fight the faded Canelo Alvarez to unseat him as the King of the 168-lb division.
Turki wanted Crawford 42-0, 31 KOs) as his guy to fight the Mexican star rather than David Benavidez, who the American fans wanted to see fight Alvarez. No one asked for Canelo-Crawford. The fans wanted Canelo to fight these guys:
- David Benavidez
- Dmitry Bivol
- Jaron Ennis
Crawford wasn’t even on the list. His fighting style never caught on with the wider public and was more favored by fans who enjoy Tom and Jerry fights.
Netflix numbers tell the truth
As we have seen, it was not ‘The Fight of the Century’. It was boring, and Netflix viewing numbers for 41 million viewers weren’t even half of the 108 million Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson produced in 2024.
Turki’s recent comment on X on Sept. 14 about whether Benavidez can make another 168 was seen as a big hint that he wants to set up a fight between Crawford and him.” Can David Benavidez make another 168 pounds?
Time to pay Turki back in blood
Since that’s what Turki wants, doesn’t Crawford owe it to him to give him the fight he wants? I mean, he reportedly paid him $50 million for the Canelo fight, and it wasn’t the fight that the American or world public wanted.
Crawford should show his gratitude by facing Benavidez and providing an entertaining fight for him and the American fans. They just saw a boring fight between Canelo and Crawford that didn’t even match the entertainment of the undercard fight between Lester Martinez and Christian Mbilli.
Calling himself deserving of being among the top of the all-time greats, Crawford said: “Now I’m on top of Mount Rushmore.”
Only Benavidez can validate Crawford
If Terence wants to be at the top or one of the top three fighters of all time, he owes it to Turki, himself and the fans to face the walking guillotine David Benavidez. That’s the only way he can be remembered as an everyday great, because beating a washed-up Canelo and a car-crash-ravaged Errol Spence isn’t good enough for Crawford to be on Mount Rushmore.
Chris Williams has covered boxing since 2010, bringing fans reliable analysis and insight from the front row to the main events.
Last updated on 15/10/2025
