Terence Crawford, the WBO mandatory for Tim Tszyu’s 154-lb title, won’t improve his positioning for a mega-money retirement golden parachute payday against Canelo Alvarez by fighting the winner of tonight’s clash between Tszyu and Sebastian Fundora.
If Crawford’s goal is to get a boatload of sweet cash in a fight against the superstar undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez and then ride off into the sunset, he’s not going in the right direction to achieve that vision by fighting tonight’s winner between WBO junior middleweight champion Tszyu (24-0, 17 KOs) and Fundora (20-1-1, 13 KOs).
As boxing expert Chris Algieri points out, Crawford should move up to 160 to fight Chris Eubank Jr., which would put him one division away from Canelo at 168.
Of course, a better idea would be for Crawford to fight IBF/WBO middleweight champion Janibek Alimkhanuly for his two belts. Unfortunately, Crawford’s not going to do that because it would be risky, and he would need to work with his former promoters at Top Rank.
The Super Middleweight Gauntlet
The other alternative for Crawford would be to go straight up to 168 and take on one of these killers to actually earn a title shot against Canelo rather than expecting a handout based on his win over Errol Spence:
- David Morrell Jr
- Caleb Plant
- David Benavidez
- Christian Mbilli
“Terence Crawford, how much time does he have left? Does he care as much about legacy or does he care about money at this point?” said Algieri to the Probox TV’s YouTube channel about what is for the 36-year-old Crawford’s goal is for the remaining time he has in his 16-year career.
“Does he [Crawford] go and get another world title against the winner of Tszyu-Fundora or does he fight Eubank at 160, which puts him one step closer to a possible Canelo fight?
“He’s looking for big, big money. I don’t think the winner of this fight [Tszyu vs. Fundora] gives him the kind of dollar signs that would really intrigue Crawford enough to make that move, which opens up a vacuum for Spence to step in.
“I would not be surprised if we saw Spence vs. the winner of Fundora against Tszyu. If Tszyu wins, is that big enough money for Crawford? I don’t know. If Fundora wins, certainly not,” said Algieri.