Terence Crawford is in a hurry to get the Canelo Alvarez fight before he exits the sport as a rich millionaire. The Canelo fight would leave Crawford wealthy, making his retirement years quite comfortable.
Crawford moved up to 154 recently, and he talked about plan B: becoming undisputed if he couldn’t land the Canelo mega-fight. However, Crawford’s tougher-than-expected fight against Israil Madrimov on August 3rd seems to have caused him to change his mind about capturing the four belts at 154.
Crawford has changed his goals and is focusing on getting that Canelo fight. It’s put His Excellency Turki Alalshikh in a tough position because the Mexican superstar Canelo (61-2-2, 39 KOs) is aware of how desperate Crawford is and is ambivalent about the fight. It’s not one that he needs or wants.
This is all Crawford. Canelo can ask for enormous money, and it doesn’t matter if Turki declines. Crawford will be the only one upset because he’s looking for retirement money.
According to Forbes, with his net worth estimated at $275 million, Canelo doesn’t need Crawford to continue to roll in the money.
Crawford looks like a guy trying to get the biggest retirement payday before getting out of the game. As Malignaggi mentions, Crawford doesn’t want to stick around and fight all these ravenous sharks at 154 after his experience with Israil Madrimov on August 3rd.
The 154-lb Ceiling
That fight gave Crawford a glimpse of what would be in store for him if he continued to swim in the shark-infested waters of the 154-lb division, where it’s dangerous for older fighters, especially ones that are just looking for a big-money heist before exiting the game.
The Madrimov fight showed that Crawford’s ultimate ceiling for his fighting ability is 154, and he can’t go past this weight class to 160 or 168.
Crawford is not physically built to fight above 154 and will struggle if he attempts to fight Canelo at super middleweight.
“He realized these top 154-pound guys are no joke. He [Crawford] had to dig deep to pull out the win over Madrimov, and the 154-lb division is full of guys like Madrimov,” said Paulie Malignaggi to Probox TV about Crawford realizing that it’s not going to be a walk in the park for him to attempt to become undisputed at 154 like he’d done at 147 and 140.
Loss of Passion for Boxing
I think Crawford has lost his love for boxing and hasn’t loved it since 2020. He’s been fighting annually for the last four years, and that’s a red flag for someone who has lost interest in the sport. Crawford is looking for one last golden parachute retirement payday against Canelo and then hangs up his gloves.
It’s not worthwhile for Canelo to fight Crawford because he can’t sell. He’s never been a PPV draw, and his recent fight against Madrimov reportedly brought in low numbers. Moreover, it didn’t sell out at the BMO Stadium in Los Angeles, even with a stacked undercard. You could see empty seats in the stadium on the night of the fight.
Read the full article here
