Crawford’s Golden Parachute: Dmitry Bivol’s Take on Terence’s Jump to Challenge Canelo Alvarez

Dmitry Bivol gives Terence Crawford a good chance of making the 14-pound weight jump from 154 to 168 to defeat Canelo Alvarez for his undisputed super middleweight championship on September 13th.

Bivol Backs Crawford

The unified three-belt light heavyweight champion Bivol defeated Canelo in 2022 by a close 12-round unanimous decision. Crawford’s trainer,  Brian ‘BoMac’ McIntyre, revealed that they’re using Bivol’s hit-and-not-get-hit’ style as a blueprint of how they’ll be approaching the Canelo superfight.

Bivol says he saw how big Crawford was in between fights, and that helped sway his opinion that he can beat Canelo. However, he admits that he’ll have to get used to his power. That’s going to be hard to do because Crawford has chosen to stay inactive for a year rather than stay busy. Turki Alalshikh, the financier of the event, should have insisted that Terence fight at least twice during the year at 168. That was a missed opportunity.

The “Fight of the Century”

Earlier today, Turki announced that what he calls “The Fight of the Century” between Alvarez and Crawford will be streamed worldwide on Netflix. It could mean a wider reach, assuming the subscribers are interested in this fight. Many won’t.

Crawford is not as well-known as Mike Tyson in terms of name recognition among people who don’t follow boxing. He’s invisible to people who aren’t interested in the sport. They know Canelo, but not Crawford. Going the Netflix route for a fight that would appeal to subscribers, like Canelo vs. David Benavidez, would make sense. But not with Crawford. That’s a big miss.

“My reaction was [initially] the size of Crawford. Is it okay for him to move up two weight classes or not? Then I saw him…He’s big and he has very good skills. He’s one of my favorite boxers,” said Dmitry Bivol to The Ring, showing that he’s in favor of Terence Crawford moving up two divisions to get an immediate title shot against Canelo Alvarez.

Bivol isn’t exactly non-biased here. He’s already admitting that Crawford is “one of my favorite boxers,” and he admires his defensive style. That’s one that Bivol uses. They’re birds of a feather, which is why neither is a PPV attraction.

All the running around that Crawford and Bivol do in their fights doesn’t resonate with U.S fans, who want action. They want to be entertained, and Bivol and Crawford don’t do that. They’re runners.

Adapting to 168-lb Power

“He’s able to win this fight. But there are a lot of small things that we don’t know how he will do with it. He needs to get used to the power and pressure of 168 because it’s a big difference,” said Bivol.

How is Crawford going to “get used to the power” if he’s chosen not to fight in the 168-lb division until he faces Canelo on September 13th? Sparring with headgear against lesser fighters brought into the training camp won’t help Crawford get accustomed to the power.

He’ll have headgear on, and his sparring partners won’t be anywhere near the level of Canelo. If they were, they wouldn’t be working as sparring partners, would they? Granted, the Mexican star is 100% washed at this late stage of his 19-year professional career. But he’s still powerful and superior to any of the boxers that Crawford brings into camp to help him train for the fight. 

“Maybe he will get used to it, and how he will feel the same day when they will fight. But he’s able, he has good skills. He’s awkward. He can use two boxing stances [southpaw and orthodox]. It gives him benefits,” said Bivol.

It’s going to be difficult for Terence Crawford to “get used to” fighting at super middleweight, considering he’s chosen not to take any warm-up fights to acclimate himself to the 168-lb weight class before fighting Canelo on September 13th.

Crawford’s “Golden Parachute”

Crawford had an entire year to take two to three tune-up fights after his last contest on August 3rd, 2024, against Israil Madrimov. Crawford chose not to do that. He just wanted to wait for the Canelo fight, which suggests that this is primarily about money for Crawford.

In other words, it’s his golden parachute payday to give him a soft landing into retirement. It’s pathetic and anti-sporting. You don’t like to see this kind of thing in any sport. Crawford should have to put his hide on the line to earn the Canelo fight like other folks do, but he hasn’t had to do that. It’s being given to him like a gold watch to a person retiring from a company.