Los Angeles , USA: Terence Crawford speaks with Eddie Hearn Chairman of the Matchroom during a Face Off with Israil Madrimov ahead of their WBA World Interim WBO World Super Welterweight Title fight on saturday night. 29 July 2024 Picture By Mark Robinson Matchroom Boxing
Terence Crawford is not giving up on pursuing a well-paying fight against superstar Canelo Alvarez. Crawford wants that payday against Canelo and isn't going to give up on hounding him for it.
In an interview yesterday, the newly won WBA junior middleweight champion Crawford criticized Canelo (61-2-2, 39 KOs) over his remarks about not receiving credit for beating a smaller guy if he were to defend his three 168-lb titles against him.
Crawford reminds fans that Canelo fought fighters throughout his career and was fine with doing that. But now that it's him, he draws the line, saying he won't receive credit. Crawford comes across as so needy right now, and that's got to be off-putting to Canelo.
The real problem preventing Crawford from getting his wish is the $150 million that Canelo wants for the fight. Crawford will get his dream fight if His Excellency Turki Alalshikh is willing to meet Canelo's asking price. Of course, it would also depend on how much money Crawford asks for.
If he wants $150M, too, or even half that at $80 million, that won't happen. The fight wouldn't generate that money and hemorrhage vast amounts of dough for Turki. He would be kicking himself later for having put together this albatross.
Unfortunately, Crawford is just not popular enough for a fight against Canelo to command the type of purse he would want.
Crawford's Lackluster Resume
The Nebraska fighter has only been involved in one big fight in his 16-year career against Errol Spence, and the rest of the guys he's fought were unpopular fighters.
Last weekend's match was a prime example of that. Crawford fought WBA junior middleweight world champion Israil Madrimov with only 11 pro fights. That was supposed to be a huge fight, but reports are the event lost big-time money.
According to Kevin Iole, the Crawford-Madrimov event at the BMO Stadium in Los Angeles lost over $10 million, and "scores" of tickets were given away complimentary to fans.
"Canelo's been fighting smaller guys his whole career," said Terence Crawford to Shawn Porter's YouTube site, continuing to vent about Canelo Alvarez not fighting him.
Crawford fails to point out that the 5'8'' Canelo has been fighting bigger guys much of his career and is considered small for the 168-lb division. He's fought light heavyweights Dmitry Bivol and Sergiy Kovalev.
Crawford's Unwillingness to Prove Himself
Crawford hasn't fought any light heavyweights or super middleweights to prove himself for a Canelo fight. He comes as just wanting the Canelo fight for a payday and is not talking about wanting to earn it by going up to 168 or 175 to fight the top guys in those weight classes.
If Crawford beat these fighters, he'd have no problems getting that Canelo retirement payday:
- David Benavidez
- Dmitry Bivol
- Artur Beterbiev
- David Morrell
Is it too much to ask for Crawford to beat one or two of those fighters to earn a fight with King Canelo? Why should Canelo give him a handout?
"Canelo fought a smaller Floyd Mayweather, Amir Khan, Jermell Charlo. He has all these excuses why he doesn't want to fight me," Crawford continued. "He said I'm easy work. If I was easy work, then you would take all that money. But still, he wants $150 million to fight me. That just lets me know I'm a threat to him. I'm a threat to him, and I'm a threat to his legacy."
Backlash Against Canelo
From Canelo's point of view, he recently fought a smaller fighter, Jermell Charlo, last year, and he had to deal with a withering backlash from the media and fans. Afterward, Canelo received little credit for his victory over Jermell.
It would be worse for Canelo if he fought Crawford, a fighter three weight divisions smaller than him. The fans' backlash would be severe and unrelenting.
Canelo-Crawford's fight would be seen as a joke by fans and a rip-off to help the fading Crawford's retirement to give a big payday as he leaves the sport.