Terence Crawford is confident he will beat Canelo Alvarez if the unified super middleweight champion agrees to fight him.
When asked about Canelo’s reluctance to fight him, Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) said they would both “win” if they did. The money the fight would bring in would benefit them both, but it’s not worth it to Canelo because he can make better dough fighting popular fighters.
Crawford says he will be ready to fight Canelo if he chooses to fight him. He did not say whether he would sit idle and wait for Canelo to fight him, or whether he would stay busy.
Promoter Eddie Hearn believes Crawford only wants Canelo from this point on and will retire if he doesn’t get the fight. If that’s Crawford’s approach, it’s a foolish one because his chances of getting the Canelo fight will diminish the longer he sits on the sidelines.
How Crawford Can Earn Canelo Fight
- Stay active: Focus on fighting three to four times a year
- Persuade Turki Alalshik to pay Cancel $150 million
- Moves up to 168: Fights David Benavidez, David Morrell and Osleys Inglesias in that order
“Canelo is bigger than me and stronger than me. We both give something away, but we both earn something at the same time,” says Terence Crawford TMZ Sports about him and Canelo Alvarez having something to gain by fighting each other next.
“I don’t know. Canelo has his own agenda that he wants to deal with. So whatever he decides to do is up to him. But if he does decide to go the Crawford route, we’re going to be ready.
Crawford is not a PPV attraction. He is only popular among the hardcore fans who like his defensive style. He’s a boring fighter with a throwback Mayweather-esque style that caters to fans who enjoy it look at Floyd’s hit-and-kick approach to fighting. Crawford’s recent clash against Israil Madrimov at 154 was a dull one that had fans booing last August.
Canelo can make more money fighting David Benavidez, Artur Beterbiev, Dmitry Bivol, Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis and Diego Pacheco.
“I don’t know if a fight of that magnitude can even be held at the Sphere,” Crawford said when asked if he would be interested in fighting Canelo at the 18,600-seat Sphere in Las Vegas. “It’s not enough people. I don’t think it’s big enough.”
It sounds like Crawford is hoping His Excellency will have a fight between him and Canelo in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. That won’t happen unless Canelo’s asking price is met, and I don’t see him going for it.
“I couldn’t really say. I would hope that it would be somewhere where it could benefit both parties,” Crawford said when asked where he would like his fight with Canelo to be staged.
“If he does decide to come my way and he and I get in the ring, it will be an exciting fight. It won’t be like any fight he’s had recently, and it’ll be a good fight for both of us, I believe,” Crawford said of Canelo.
It won’t be exciting because he’s pure boxer, and he’s already hinted that he’s going to follow the blueprint Mayweather and Dmitry Bivol have created on how to beat Canelo.
So if Crawford does get the fight, he will jab, throw single pot shots, hold and then run away like a thief all night. That’s what Mayweather did. He hit, ran and held Canelo the entire fight. It was very boring to watch.
“Of course I would beat him. There’s no doubt in my mind that I’ve beaten anybody I’ve stepped in the ring with,” Crawford said when asked if he had beaten Canelo.
Crawford isn’t going to beat Canelo because he couldn’t even beat Madrimov in convincing fashion last August. Instead of begging Canelo 24/7, Crawford should give Madrimov a rematch because there are still a lot of questions about who really deserved the win in that fight.
