Chris Algieri argues against the idea of Terence Crawford making his first defense of his undisputed super middleweight championship against Dmitry Bivol.
The retired former 140-lb world champion Algieri states that the 6’0″ Bivol (24-1, 12 KOs) would be too tall for the 5’9″ Crawford (42-0, 31 KOs), and “stylistically” is a bad match-up for him. Crawford has a three-inch reach advantage of 75″ over Bivol’s 72″, so the size wouldn’t be the main issue for why he would be potentially overmatched.
Bivol’s Threatening Style
It’s more about Bivol’s style, combination punching, movement, output, and fearlessness. He wouldn’t be hesitant to walk through Crawford’s shots to carpet bomb him with thermobaric bombs, wreaking destruction from the blast wave.
It might not be pretty for Terence, but it would be a stress-filled, action-packed fight. It would arguably be more entertaining to watch than last Saturday’s contest between Crawford and Canelo, which lacked drama and was dull for long stretches.
Algieri points out that, unlike the flat-footed Canelo Alvarez, Bivol is an excellent mover, fights “on his toes.” It wouldn’t be the same situation for Terence as it was for the made-to-order flat-footed Canelo was for him.
The Sporting Thing to Do
Algieri adds that “Crawford would never take a fight that he couldn’t win,” which rules out his agreeing to fight Bivol. Yesterday, Crawford rejected a fight against David Benavidez, saying he’s too big.
This affirms what Algieri says about Crawford only taking fights that he knows he can win. That doesn’t say much about his risk-taking ability. That also goes back to Turki Alalshikh. He could have forced Bud to take a risky fight to earn the mega-money superfight against Canelo last Saturday night, rather than giving it to him on a silver platter after his closely contested victory over Israil Madrimov in 2024.
That would have been the sporting thing to do. If Crawford refused a fight against Bivol or Benavidez, Turki could have told him the Alvarez fight is off the table.
Somehow, Crawford would have changed his mind and agreed to fight one or both of those fights if he knew he was going to miss out on the mega-million payday against the depleted, flat-footed Canelo.
“People were tweeting at me, ‘Bud Crawford vs. Bivol at 168,’” said host Dan Canobbio on his Inside Boxing channel, discussing the hypothetical fight between Terence Crawford and Dmitry Bivol.
Facing a Different Kind of Fighter
“No. Nope. Bad idea. No, because Bivol doesn’t move like a big guy. He’s not slow-footed at all. He’s in and out. He jabs a ton. He’s long. He’s tall. He’s big. No,” said boxing expert Chris Algieri.
I disagree with Algieri. It’s not a bad idea for Crawford to fight Bivol. If it was okay for Crawford to fight the shell of the car-crash-wrecked Errol Spence in 2023, David Avanesyan, or the past his prime Shawn Porter, why wouldn’t it be a good idea for him to fight Bivol?
Is it because Crawford wouldn’t be the favorite for once and would be up against someone who could beat him? Isn’t sports supposed to be about teams and fighters facing opposition where they’re not expected to win all the time? Why should it be any different for Crawford, unless his career is smoke and mirrors from the start?
“In this era, I’m not going to say weight classes don’t matter, but we’re getting into a weird slippery slope where we’re just making these fights,” said Canobbio.
“Bivol is going to tower over him, but also stylistically, the way that he moves,” Algieri said, arguing against Crawford fighting Bivol. “Canelo is completely flat-footed. A smaller fighter can have a chance against him. Bivol is never flat-footed. The guy literally lives on his toes. That’s a really difficult [fight for Crawford].”
Last Updated on 09/16/2025
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