By Allan Fox: Terence Crawford has started campaigning for a fight against Canelo Alvarez next despite having zero experience at 168 and not being a proven PPV fighter outside of his last contest against Errol Spence Jr. last July.
The 36-year-old Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs) believes he should skip to the front of the line, ahead of proven super middleweights David Benavidez, David Morrell Jr., and Demetrius Andrade, to get the title shout against undisputed 168-lb champion Canelo (59-2-2, 39 KOs) if he successfully defeats four-belt 154-lb champ Jermell Charlo on September 30th.
There would be no problem with Crawford fighting Canelo if he’d a least prove himself worthy of challenging for the undisputed 168-lb title by beating these four talents first:
1. David Benavidez
2. Dmitry Bivol
3. David Morrell Jr.
4. Caleb Plant
Is it too much to ask for to want to see Crawford earn a fight against ‘The Face of Boxing’ Canelo Alvarez at 168 instead of being given a handout/free ride based on his win over a weight-drained, car crash-wrecked Errol Spence and 15 years worth of wins over subpar opposition?
Without Crawford beating those four killers, I’m sorry, but he doesn’t deserve to share the ring with the king of the 168-lb division Canelo Alvarez. To earn the privilege of meeting with the king, Crawford must prove himself in battle by slaying the four dragons, Benavidez, Bivol, Morrell Jr. & Plant.
Crawford, who has only had one successful pay-per-view fight during his entire fifteen-year pro career against Spence, says a contest between him and Canelo would be “the biggest fight in boxing.”
It sounds like the 36-year-old Crawford is looking for retirement funds to give him a big payday before he hangs up his gloves. Canelo-Crawford is NOT the biggest fight in boxing, and it’s clearly nowhere near as big as a match-up on PPV, a fight between Canelo & David Benavidez. That’s the one that fans want to see.
You can argue that the only reason Crawford’s last fight did well on Showtime PPV is that he was fighting the famous Errol Spence, so he basically hitched a ride on his coattails.
If not for Crawford fighting Spence, his PPV fight would have bombed like his previous efforts on pay-per-view against Amir Khan, Kell Brook & Viktor Postol.
“Canelo is not a big guy; he’s 5’8.” He’s big muscular-wise, but as far as height? Nah, I think it can happen. If he beats Jermell Charlo, Terence Crawford vs. Canelo Alvarez is the biggest fight in boxing, hands down,” said Terence Crawford to Joe Rogan’s Podcast.