Former multi-division world champion Mikey Garcia says he’s not a fan of Terence Crawford moving up two weight classes to challenge Canelo Alvarez for his three super middleweight belts.
Mikey feels it is too much for Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) to fight the heavier and more powerful Canelo (62-2-2, 39 KOs) after struggling in his recent move to 154 against Israil Madrimov last August. He thinks Crawford should stay at 154 and try to unify against the other champions.
He believes he probably won’t because there is no money in fighting the other belt holders at junior middleweight compared to what he can get against Canelo. Mikey says the Canelo-Crawford fight is a “big fight” because of the “money” it will bring in, but not a big one because of the size mismatch.
Mikey doubts Crawford
Crawford didn’t show much power against Madrimov and was uncomfortable eating straight hands from him.
“Canelo fights at 168. Crawford just moved up to 154, and he had problems in that fight,” Mikey Garcia said. Fight Hub TVexpressing disapproval of Terence Crawford fighting unified three-belt super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez. “Now, where do you plan to go? Up to 164, 165 or 166? Canelos is not going to get down to 160. He will drop to 166 if he accepts.
“I think Canelo wins that fight just based on strength and size. Skill wise I think Crawford is a better skilled fighter but the difference in size will make the difference. That’s why I’m not a fan of that fight. I think Crawford accomplished everything he needed to accomplish.
“From 140 to 147, and now 154. It’s even great for him. If he wants to do something. Collect belts at 154. He can try, but there’s no money in it compared to the Canelo fight. Canelo is trying to fight other guys,” Garcia said.
Crawford’s payday
Crawford obviously wants the fight against Canelo for the money, and that’s the only reason. If it was about legacy, Crawford would move up to 160 first to fight the champions in that weight class, but he doesn’t because none of them are stars.
There is no money for Crawford to get. He wants it, and the fight against Canelo will provide him with that payday. He should thank Turki Al-Sheikh for that because he is the one who makes it possible. If not for him, Canelo wouldn’t be bothering to fight Crawford.
“At that point it’s more of a big fight for the money it’s going to generate,” Mikey says of the Canelo vs. Crawford matchup. “But as a fight, I’m not a fan of those matchups. I’d rather see Canelo move up and fight Beterbiev or Bivol again. If he wanted to challenge himself, move up to 175 again and challenge those guys. Not a smaller guy moving up (Crawford).”
Canelo is unlikely to move up tp 175 again unless Dmitry Bivol can capture the undisputed light heavyweight championship in his rematch with Artur Beterbiev on February 22nd. If Bivol wins that fight, Canelo could be interested in moving up in weight for a rematch as it would allow him to try to become a two-division undisputed champion.
Also, the money Canelo would get for that fight would be huge. There will be less of a setback for Alvarez if he loses to Bivol again because he’s moving up in weight against a bigger guy. With Bivol being a finesse-level fighter, there is less for Canelo to worry about fighting him than if Beterbiev prevails on February 22nd.
Stay at 154
“Same thing with Crawford. He doesn’t need to move up to fight Canelo. He can only fight guys at 154,” Mikey said.
Crawford will likely only be interested in fighting WBC and WBO junior middleweight champion Sebastian Fundora for his belts at 154, as it’s a fight where he doesn’t have to worry as much about getting knocked out. If Crawford were to challenge IBF champion Bakhram Murtazaliev or interim WBC champion Vergil Ortiz Jr, he could be stopped.
Those guys are younger and more powerful than him. They will want to add the soon-to-be 38-year-old Crawford’s scalp to their collection. That would be a nice trophy.
