Promoter Tom Loeffler favors Canelo Alvarez defeating Terence Crawford if that “fantasy matchup” is made this year.
Loeffler promoted Gennadiy ‘GGG’ Golovkin for his three fights with Canelo (62-2-2, 39 KOs). He knows how good Canelo is from those fights. He feels that the two-division weight jump for Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs), going from 154 to 168, would be too much for him going up against Canelo.
Too Big A Leap?
Loeffler notes that Crawford didn’t resemble his usual dominating self in making his debut at 154 last year on August 3rd against Israil Madrimov. That was a move from 147 to 154 after Crawford sat for a year on an extended victory lap after beating the car crash-wrecked Errol Spence Jr. on July 29, 2023.
Now, if Crawford sits idle until fighting Canelo in September, he’ll have been inactive for 13 months. That’s another long layoff, and Crawford will be 38, fighting for the first time at 168 against one of the best fighters in the division.
Given Canelo’s recent performances, you can’t say for sure he’s the best fighter at 168, but he’s one of the top guys. There’s no arguing that. The combination of inactivity, weight jump, advancing age and the power advantage of Canelo makes it hard to see Crawford winning.
Crawford’s True Motivation? Money
Moreover, we don’t even know if that’s his sole reason for wanting this fight. Crawford’s motivation is likely just money. If it were about accomplishment, he’d move up to 168 and prove himself against one or two of the top fighters in the division.
This is almost surely about money for the Nebraska native, and Turki is helping him because if Crawford had to earn the spot by beating the likes of Christian Mbilli, Diego Pacheco, or Caleb Plant, he’d come up short.
Chasing The Payday
“You got to give His Excellency [Turki Al-Sheikh] credit for that. That’s a kind of fantasy matchup. I don’t know what the weights or if they fight or what they discussed in terms of the weight,” said promoter Tom Loeffler to Fighthype about the fight between Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford.
“I have a long history with Canelo in the GGG fights. To me, I think Canelo is too big for Terence. I have a ton of respect for what Bud accomplished at 147. He dominated the whole division. At 154, against [Israil] Madrimov, we saw that he didn’t have that same dominance.
“Madrimov is a great fighter, but he didn’t have that same dominance, but if he moves up in weight. Canelo’s not the most youngest guy anymore. That’s what makes it kind of interesting. I think GGG took a lot out [of Alvarez] because, after those three fights, you really saw Canelo kind of slowing down a little bit. He’s kind of on the tail end of his career, and Bud [37 years old] is still right there.
“That’s a fight with two huge names in the sport of boxing. I think Bud is right there towards the top of the pound-for-pound list of boxers. You never take anything away from him. I personally lean towards Canelo in that matchup, given the moving up to 168,” said Loeffler.
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