Floyd Mayweather Jr. has come up with the solution to Terence Crawford and David Benavidez’s problems about their forlorn dreams of getting a chance to fight Canelo Alvarez, saying they should face “each other.”
Mayweather’s Logic
Mayweather doesn’t understand the approach that Crawford and Benavidez have been taking, seeing them both repeatedly pushing for a fight against the superstar Canelo (60-2-2, 39 KOs), getting ignored, and not taking significant risks with their careers to earn the shot the hard way.
Benavidez (28-0, 24 KOs), while a good fighter and massive for the 168-lb division, hasn’t shown interest in fighting David Morrell Jr, Artur Beterbiev, or Jai Opetaia, which would put him in a great position to get the Canelo clash if he were victorious against those killers.
For his part, Crawford won’t fight Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis and has failed to make the move up North to 168 to put himself in the best position to get the fight that he wants against Canelo.
It makes sense to Floyd that if you want the Canelo fight, the most logical move for Crawford would be to go up to 168 and defeat what some believe is the best fighter in the division, the heir to the throne, Benavidez.
Crawford’s Contradiction
“If Crawford wants to go up to 168 lbs and wants to fight Canelo bad, and Benavidez wants to fight Canelo bad – if they can’t get Canelo, they can fight each other,” said Mayweather to FightHype.
Surprisingly, Crawford hasn’t already made the move because it’s a no-brainer. Crawford rates himself as the #1 pound-for-pound fighter in the sport, so he should have have already moved up to 168 to knock off the top dog, Benavidez to show that he deserves that spot as the best. Roy Jones Jr. moved up 25+ lbs to heavyweight during his career to unseat WBA champion John Ruiz.
Legacy vs. Money
Crawford needs to show the same willingness to take risks if he wants the Canelo money, which is clearly the ultimate goal for him. If this was about legacy, Crawford would ignore Canelo and fight Benavidez because he’s viewed as the best in the 168-lb division right now, given how he’s performing.
If he wants that gigantic payday against Canelo Alvarez to live like a King afterwards on the riches that he receives from that fight, Crawford has got to be willing to make the ultimatric sacrifice by [putting his hide on the line against the cruiserweight-sized Benavidez at 168.