Terence Crawford posted a photo on X of himself posing with Turki Al-Sheikh, which confirms that he is making a deal for his mega-money fight against Canelo Alvarez in September.
(Credit: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing)
Crawford used a King’s crown emoji along with his picture as if he sees him as some kind of monarch after getting the fight given to him that he’d been begging for. This fight is Crawford’s golden parachute retirement payday. Think of it as Canelo vs. Jermell Charlo 2.0.
Is it asking too much for Crawford to test himself against at least one killer at 168 first? Turki should put Crawford’s feet to the fire, telling him he must first beat David Benavidez to get that payday against Canelo. Just let Terence fight Benavidez and let him prove he’s worthy of meeting with King Canelo.
Mayweather Blueprint 2.0
It’s that kind of a mismatch. I’m just hoping that Turki sells it for cheap on PPV because it’s going to be a mismatch and likely a boring one if Crawford follows the Mayweather blueprint of how he fought Alvarez in 2013. Crawford’s trainer, Brian ‘BoMac’ McIntyre, already said they’re going to follow the Mayweather plan by ‘boxing, moving and tying up’ Canelo all night. It’s going to be very, very boring to watch. He said Crawford would follow it to the T, which is going to be pure poison to the eyes.
I wouldn’t be averse to seeing Canelo vs. Crawford if it’s for free as part of the normal subscription with DAZN because it’s a circus-level fight. Crawford just moved up to 154 and looked awful, and now he’s going to go up another two divisions with no experience, no test, no earning a title shot, and fighting Canelo. It’s a joke.
Turki needs to kindly tell Crawford if he wants the cash for a Canelo fight, he’s going to show some gumption by fighting Morrell or Benavidez to show he deserves to be in the presence of the King. Let me be the one to tell Crawford. I’ll break it to him.
The former four-division world champion Crawford looked like an average fighter last August, moving up from 147 to 154 to challenge WBA champion Israil Madrimov for his title.
Two Divisions Too Far
Crawford was not impressive, needing to rally late to win a 12-round unanimous decision against Madrimov. He easily could have lost that fight if Madrimov had the sense to know that he needed to go on the attack rather than continuing to potshot. The performance by the 40-ish-looking Crawford showed that he’d hit his ceiling for what he’s capable of doing.
If he moved up to 160 to take on the killer Janibek Alimkhanuly or 168 to face Benavidez, the jig would be up. Crawford would get massacred due to the size, youth, and talent of these fighters.
Fans are split on whether the 37-year-old Crawford being given this fight against Canelo is a good thing for the sport a further degradation, turning boxing into a non-sport. Obviously, in a real sport, Crawford would have to move past other teams to get to the top level.
There would be a season, playoffs, and then the finals. We see Crawford skipping all that leap-frogging over fighters who would likely beat him, like David Benavidez, David Morrell, Diego Pacheco, Christian Mbilli, and Osleys Iglesias. If this were an exhibition fight, that would make sense, but it’s not.
Crawford is moving up two weight classes to get an undeserved world title shot against WBA, WBC, and WBO super middleweight champion Canelo in September. How is this even allowed to happen?
— Terence Crawford (@terencecrawford) January 13, 2025
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