Terence Crawford is a No-Win Fight for Canelo Alvarez
Terence Crawford has recently been on the campaign trail, doing his best to bait Alvarez into a fight at Super Middleweight. It’s not the first time Crawford has mentioned wanting to fight Canelo – he’s been pretty persistent on saying he wants the fight for a long time.
He’s not alone in wanting to make the fight happen.
Turki Alalshikh, the chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority and currently the biggest match maker in boxing said…
“I will give Canelo what I think is a fair price. If he accepts it, he deals directly with me to finish the deal. I don’t want anyone in the middle. I guaranteed Crawford a big fight, I want Canelo for Crawford and Crawford wants Canelo. But if Canelo is crazy with his financial demands, I will still guarantee Crawford any fight he wants.”
Turki has a way of making things happen in boxing, so Terence Crawford may well get his wish.
The Terence Crawford Fight Just Doesn’t Make Sense for Canelo
He’s gone on record saying he’ll take the fight, and in terms of skill level it’s a great contest. That’s where the even matching ends though.
Canelo is a natural super middleweight. He’s been fighting at the weight since he beat Rocky Fielding in 2018. Although he rose through the weight classes, he’s done it progressively. He’s not a tall man (5’7), but he’s stocky and muscular.
It’s a frame that has allowed him to compete at light heavyweight, knocking out the much bigger Sergey Kovalev to win the WBO title.
And that’s why I’m not sure the fight makes sense.
If Canelo wins by knockout, the calls will be ‘of course he did – he’s a much bigger man than Terence Crawford’.
Even if he doesn’t knock Crawford out, but beats him heavily and inflicts some serious hurt on him, it’ll be the same opinion.
If Canelo draws or loses, frankly it’ll be a little embarrassing. Not because Terence Crawford lacks skill – he certainly doesn’t. I just don’t think Crawford has anywhere near the power required to knock Canelo out. Few do – Kovalev and Bivol couldn’t. GGG tried twice and couldn’t. Crawford has no chance of winning by KO, and that allows Canelo to be more aggressive.
Knowing that Crawford can’t hurt him means Canelo can go on the attack and physically dominate his opponent, just like he did against Amir Khan. In case you haven’t seen what happened when a 154lb fighter moved up two weight divisions to face Canelo, here’s a reminder…
Money Plays Out
The only way I see this fight making sense for Canelo is financially. If the money is big enough, I get it.
Neither man needs this fight for their legacy. They’re both legends now. Terence Crawford needs a challenge, because frankly there’s nothing in the middleweights and he’s already proven himself to be the best welterweight and light middleweight. Canelo doesn’t need this fight at all.
Crawford needs to be careful though. Alvarez may not be the fighter he was, but he’s still world class.
I’ll end by warning Crawford to look at what happened to Amir Khan and Kell Brook when they stepped up two weight divisions to fight Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin respectively. They were two brutal knockouts, and you don’t want to be another name added to the list of fighters who flew too close to the flames.
