“Just a Businessman”: Promoter Bob Arum Questions Canelo Alvarez’s Motivation Ahead of Terence Crawford Fight

Promoter Bob Arum questions whether Canelo Alvarez will show up just for the money or come to fight against Terence Crawford in their main event clash on PPV on September 12. Arum says he thinks that Canelo (63-2-2, 39 KOs) has shown in his “last few fights” that “he’s just a businessman” coming for a paycheck.

Multi-Million Dollar Purses = Less Effort

Canelo’s last three reported purses

– William Scull: $100 million
– Edgar Berlanga: $65 million
– Jaime Munguia: $35 million

For Alvarez’s fight against Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs), he’s expected to receive a purse of $150 million. Crawford’s is said to be receiving $50 million. With Canelo’s purses getting substantially larger in each of his last three fights, it’s not surprising that his performances have been going downhill. Turki Alalshikh is overpaying Canelo and Crawford.

With a net worth estimated at $275 million, Canelo is so rich that he doesn’t have the incentive to fight hard and stick his neck out to entertain fans like other fighters do.

“Who is Canelo and what Canelo is going to show up?” said promoter Bob Arum to the media when asked if Terence Crawford can defeat Alvarez in their fight on September 12th. “The Canelo that’s looking to cash a big check or the Canelo that really wants to fight like a fighter. Now, the Canelo that we’ve seen in the last two years is not only boring, but doesn’t really have an incentive to mix it up and entertain people with a good fight.’

It’s not just Canelo who isn’t looking great lately. Crawford was poor in his last fight against Israil Madrimov and was lucky to get the win. He showed that he cannot beat the top fighters at 154 with that performance. He definitely can’t do it at 160 and 1688. That’s why he didn’t even try to fight anyone in those divisions to stay sharp.

Not Fighting to Entertain

“If I had to pay money to watch that fight, I wouldn’t do it because Canelo has shown in his last few fights that he’s just a businessman. He’s not in there to entertain the public,’ said Arum. “He just takes the big check. Then again, if Canelo really fights because safe to say, Terence always fights. He doesn’t know anything else. So, then it could be a really interesting fight.”

Canelo is being paid for what he did in the past, not for the level he’s fighting at now. He’s over the hill at 34, and you can understand why he chose not to fight David Benavidez and David Morrell when they were both at super middleweight. He can’t beat them.