By Dan Ambrose: Canelo Alvarez says he’s open to a fight with welterweight Terence Crawford next at 168 after his title defense of his undisputed super middleweight championship against Jerrmell Chalo on September 30th.
Although Canelo (59-2-2, 39 KOs) admits that it’s a “crazy” fight and he won’t receive credit for beating Crawford, he says he’s open to facing him if it makes sense.
It’s believed that Terence Crawford is looking for as much money as possible before heading out the door, so he’s trying to line up a golden parachute to give him a soft landing into retirement. Crawford is also interested in fighting Jermell Charlo.
The backlash that Canelo would receive from fans for fighting Crawford instead of David Benavidez, his WBC mandatory, would be huge. It would be transparently clear that Canelo is using Crawford to avoid fighting Benavidez, and there would be a cry for him to be stripped of his WBC belt.
The way Canelo answered the question about Crawford was very similar to how he responded to questions about fighting David Benavidez, which means he will not be fighting the Nebraska native ever.
Canelo is polite when the media mentions different fighters and doesn’t openly reject options, no matter how crazy. The one exception to that was when Demetrius Andrade called out Canelo, but that was a different story. Andrade put Canelo on the spot.
“You never know in boxing. It’s possible, why not? If it makes sense, I’m down to do it. I don’t care who is there. I’m always able to fight anybody,” said 168-lb undisputed champion Canelo Alvarez to Manouk Akopyan about fighting 147-lb champ Terence Crawford after his September 30th title defense against 154-lb fighter Jermell Charlo.
“Look, I respect Crawford. He’s a great fighter. I always say no disrespect to him, but sometimes it’s a little crazy that people talking about me facing too small fighters. Charlo, he’s big, and everybody is talking about me fighting Crawford, a fighter at 147, who is smaller than Charlo.”
It wouldn’t be a big deal for Canelo to fight Crawford if Terence beat Benavidez and David Morreell Jr. first, but he’s not going to fight those guys because they’d likely destroy him.
Crawford just wants the title shot against Canelo without working for it at 168 by taking on the sharks in the division, and that’s troubling. It’s like a team wanting to go straight to the Super Bowl without winning playoff games or having a regular season.
“It doesn’t make sense for you guys to say it right now. I don’t understand because you’re talking about Charlo; he’s two weight classes lower than me,” said Canelo. “Then you’re talking about Crawford. I don’t want to have credit for facing Crawford. I go up, up, down, and fight everybody out there.
“I think everything. He’s a big fighter. He has speed; he has power; he has really good moves. He has everything,” said Canelo when asked what threat Jermell Charlo presseents to him.
“I think he’s a dangerous opponent, and this fight is talking for a long time. I think it’s a great moment to do it. I’m in Truckee, California for the altitude because when I fought in Guadalajara, I felt the difference in the altitude. My body feels better.
“That’s why I choose to come here at altitude for the training because my body feels good. We don’t know yet. We’re 100% focused on this fight, and then we want to sit with the team, Eddy Reynoso, Al Haymon, and we want to see what is next, but right now, we’re 100% focused on Jermell Charlo,” said Canelo when asked who will be next for him, provided he beats Jermell Charlo on September 30th.
