Terence Crawford is being stubbornly secretive about the tactics he’ll use for his potential fight against unified three-belt super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez in 2025.
Entertainment, Not Boxing
Crawford is thirsty for the Canelo fight, discussing the money and how it would cement his legacy. Obviously, it would fit the classification as “entertainment” but NOT as boxing because Crawford is too small and underpowered to move up two divisions from 154 to 168 to challenge Canelo.
In Crawford’s recent debut at junior middleweight against WBA champion Israil Madrimov on August 3rd, we saw that his power didn’t carry up from the 147 division. If Crawford can’t even punch at 154, how is he going to at 168 against Canelo? Again, a fight between them is “entertainment,” a “Show,” but not boxing.
In the real world, you move up in weight, fight the killers in the weight class, and EARN the title shot. It’s not given to you in a handout for what you did against lesser fighters in other weight classes. Crawford should have to go up to 168 and beat these five:
- Osleys Iglesias
- David Benavidez
- David Morrell
- Christian Mbilli
- Caleb Plant
Crawford’s chances of getting through these five sharks to the Canelo payday are nonexistent. That’s not happening. He’ll get picked off by the first apex predator he faced, Iglesias, and be forced to return from whence he came at 154.
His Excellency Turki Alalshikh says he will try to make the fight between the superstar Canelo (62-2-2, 39 KOs) and junior middleweight champion Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) next year.
It will cost a fortune to make that matchup, as Canelo, 34, has resisted the idea of facing Crawford, seeing it as a bleak no-win situation. If Canelo wipes Crawford out, he’s going to be dumped on for cherry-picking an old, small, and weak 37-year-old fighter who never fought at 168 or 160.
“I don’t want to go in there and say I’m going to box him. When I get in the ring, I might stay in front of him. I don’t want to say I’m going to stay there in front of him when I might have to box him,” said Terence Crawford to Carl Froch’s YouTube channel, refusing to reveal his game plan for a fight against Canelo Alvarez in 2025.
“I’m the type of fighter that makes adjustments on the fly. Throughout my career, I do what’s necessary to get the job done,” said Crawford. “That’s what we’re in the game for, to leave a legacy.”
The Mayweather Blueprint
From what Crawford is saying, he’s going to be looking to follow the Floyd Mayweather Jr. blueprint by boxing and moving all night against Canelo to make it boring. In the end, that won’t be “entertainment” for the fans. It’ll be a rip-off, and people will be furious for having wasted their money on this circus-level event.
There is absolutely NO chance in the world that Crawford is going to stand and fight Canelo because his chances of success are minimal. He’s been a counter-puncher and a mover his entire career. He’s not going to stray away from that approach against Canelo and get blasted into the stratosphere.
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