Terence Crawford’s coach, Bernie Davis, says that unless Bud is given “$100 million” for his next fight to go down to 160 to collect all four belts at once, he’s not going to fight again.
$100 Million Dreams, Zero Reality
He states that he doesn’t think Crawford will fight again unless he’s offered $100 million to move down to become the undisputed champion at middleweight.
Middleweight Kings, Do the Dirty Work
Besides the demand for $100M, the three belts at 160 will have to be collected by one champion so that Crawford can fight for all four at once. Davis says the current champions, Carlos Adames, Janibek Alimkhanuly, and Erislandy Lara, “can do all the hard work” to round up all the titles for Crawford to fight for the whole bunch.
That sounds like a lazy man’s approach to becoming undisputed champion. If you look at how Crawford became undisputed at 168 and 147, that’s in keeping with his style. He collected all four belts against the washed Canelo Alvarez at super middleweight. At welterweight, Crawford won the WBO belt from paper champion Jeff Horn, then captured the last three, IBF, WBA, and WBC, from the car cash wrecked Errol Spence.
“I think Crawford is done. If it ain’t $100 million to go down and fight those guys [Janibek Alimkhanuly, Erislandy Lara, and Carlos Adames] and let them guys do all the hard work,” said coach Bernie Davis to MillCity Boxing about Terence Crawford’s asking price and conditions for him to move down to 160 to fight for the belts.
Bud’s Retirement Price Tag
That $100 million is an absurd amount of money for a fighter who has never proven to be a huge draw. While Crawford’s 12-round unanimous decision win over Canelo Alvarez on September 13 brought in 70,482 at Allegiant in Las Vegas, that may have been due to the Mexican star.
Does Crawford Still Move the Needle?
In Terence’s previous fight against Israil Madrimov on May 3, 2024, at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles, 3,935 tickets were reportedly given away as comps due to the event not selling out. In other words, Crawford isn’t the kind of huge draw that suggests that he deserves to be paid $100 million or even a tenth of that number.
The reason Crawford got the Canelo fight is that Turki Alalshikh wanted to see it, not because fans demanded the match. The U.S public wanted to see Canelo fight David Benavidez. It was Turki who wanted Canelo vs. Crawford.
“Let them collect the belts, and then we fight for undisputed. That’s it. Other than that, I don’t see Crawford fighting no more. There’s no need,” said Bernie. “Crawford don’t need to do no more. He’s done everything that there is to do. Unless they want to give him a 100 million, make a big spectacle, and put the belts on the line. That’s the only way I can see that.”
A Year—or Two—of Inactivity
If Crawford is just going to sit and wait for the three belts at 160 to be unified before he moves down to middleweight, he may be out of the ring for over a year because it’s going to take time for them to be collected.
There’s a possibility of WBA middleweight champion Erislandy Lara fighting IBF and WBO champion Janibek Alimkhanuly in December, but that still hasn’t been confirmed. Assuming that fight does get made, they would still need WBC champion Carlos Adames to agree to fight whoever emerges as the winner of the Janibek vs. Lara fight.
The earliest that a match would likely take place would be in April 2026. So, Crawford could be inactive for a year if he’s lucky. If not, it could extend until 2027. By then, he’d be approaching 40.
Too Old, Too Expensive, Too Late
That’s not interesting to see an old Crawford fight for the undisputed after sitting outside of the ring for over a year. He’d been out of the ring for over a year when he fought Canelo last month, and that was not an exciting fight to watch. In fact, it was quite boring, thanks to Crawford’s movement. He turned in a Jerry-like performance, choosing to move a lot.
“100 million no less. Not 75, not 90, 100. It’s got to be 100 million. If it’s not 100 million, then what is he doing it for? He ain’t going for nothing. Who can turn down 100 million? Who can turn down 80?” said Davis.
The gall of Bernie Davis to set the condition of Crawford being paid $100 million for him to get off his backside to fight again. If that’s coming from Crawford, Turki needs to wash his hands of him and focus on looking for younger fighters, if his goal is to increase the popularity of boxing to bring it back to where it once was. Payinng older fighters at the end of their careers that kind of money is a pure waste because they’re going to be gone.
Last Updated on 10/04/2025
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