Terence Crawford’s reported $100 million demand for a Canelo Alvarez rematch puts Turki Alalshikh in a position to decide whether it’s a value-add to subsidize a second fight.
Boots Is Cheaper — And Deadlier
Turki has to decide whether to give in to Crawford’s pay demands or go with a cheaper, more affordable option from a younger fighter, like Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis, Lester Martinez, or David Benavidez.
Many fans viewed the previous Canelo-Crawford fight last September as boring, lacking entertainment value, and blamed Crawford for running around for long stretches of the 12 rounds.
Why Turki Might Pass
For Crawford to be asking for a huge bump up in pay from $50 million for the first fight, it doesn’t make sense given his lackluster, Tom-and-Jerry-esque performance. It was a classic Jerry-type effort from Terence. If you were Turki, sitting in the crowd that night watching Crawford openly ignoring his mandate of no running, he had to have been furious.
That was the kind of performance by a fighter that deserves to be paid in the thousands, not the millions. Where was the guilt? Didn’t Crawford feel like he owed Turki to put in an effort to make it entertaining, given his high pay, the way he hand-picked him, and labeled the contest ‘The fight of the Century’?
Rematch Value: Near Zero
If the fight had been entertaining, drama-filled, and had a great ending, Crawford’s asking for all the gold in Fort Knox to be emptied into his bank account would be understandable. It wasn’t that kind of fight. There are no words to describe how boring the fight was due to Crawford throwing pesky jabs, moving, wrestling at times, and holding.
The perception some fans on social media have of Crawford is that he’s become a businessman, and isn’t for legacy like he says he is. He didn’t deserve to fight Canelo for his undisputed super middleweight championship in the first place, given that he skipped the line at 168 without taking on the contenders, Osleys Iglesias, or Lester Martinez, who were at the front of the line.