Chris Eubank Jr. posted a photo of a fight poster of him and Terence Crawford on Instagram today, seemingly confirming the rumors of the two fighting next at middleweight.
If you’re Crawford, you don’t want to take this fight because it will not increase the buzz for him to be given an unearned title shot against the undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez, which he’s been campaigning for.
For Crawford to increase his chances of being blessed by Canelo, he should target these fighters:
- David Morrell Jr.
- David Benavidez
- Caleb Plant
- Jermall Charlo
Eubank Jr. is a decent domestic-level fighter, but he’s a complete unknown to casual boxing fans in the U.S. and has done zero on the world stage unless you count losing to George Groves as an achievement.
Crawford’s Easy Transition?
The fight makes sense for the 36-year-old Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs), who wants to get an easy payday while getting his feet wet in the 160-lb division and putting himself within a stone’s throw of a title shot against four-belt 168-lb champion Canelo Alvarez.
The logical place to stage a fight between Crawford and Eubank Jr. would be the UK, as Americans would ignore this albatross-level fight, viewing Chris Jr. as an underachiever who has never done anything as a pro.
Even in the UK, this fight might not sell because Eubank Jr. isn’t a big enough attraction, and Crawford has only been involved in one notable fight in his career against Errol Spence Jr.
He’s seen as a fighter who has lived off his famous father’s name by taking exclusively winnable fights against fringe-level opposition. The only time Eubank Jr. stepped up during his career to fight a true world-level fighter, he was handily beaten by Groves in 2018.
The Better Test Ignored
Crawford would be better off proving to the boxing world that he rates a fight against Canelo by facing the King of the middleweight division, IBF/WBO champion Janibek Alimkhanuly.
Unfortunately, that fight would likely be too complicated to put together, considering it would require Crawford to work with his old promoters at Top Rank. It would also be a much more difficult clash to win for him than facing the 34-year-old Eubank Jr. (33-3, 24 KOs).