Mike Tyson Against Crawford Fighting Canelo Alvarez At 168

Mike Tyson says he doesn’t like the idea of Terence Crawford jumping up to 168 to challenge Canelo Alvarez for his three titles in that weight class.

‘Iron Mike’ Tyson notes that Crawford 41-0, 31 KOs) didn’t look good in his last fight, moving up from 147 to 154 to battle Israil Madrimov for his WBA junior middleweight belt on August 3rd. Tyson says Madrimov was big, and Crawford shouldn’t have fought him.

Madrimov was nailing Crawford with powerful right hands all night and clearly landed the harder, cleaner shots in every round. I watched the fight and had Madrimov winning based on landing the better punches, but the judges scored the contest like it was under the amateur rules.

The judges gave Crawford a narrow 12-round unanimous decision win, but it wasn’t the kind of performance that showed that the soon-to-be 37-year-old Crawford could move up to 168 to take on WBA, WBC, and WBO super middleweight champion Canelo.

It’s obvious that Crawford just wants that bag for the Canelo fight to give him going away money for his retirement years to live in luxury like one of the robber barons from the Gilded Age, but it’s fair to the fans. If Crawford wants to get that retirement payday against Canelo, he needs to move up to 168 and prove himself against these Big Four:

1. David Benavidez
2. David Morrell
3. Christian Mbilli
4. Osleys Iglesias

If Crawford can pass these four tests, he can move on to the next level to challenge Canelo Alvarez for his three belts at super middleweight. It’s that simple. To get that golden parachute, Crawford has got to earn it the hard way just like anyone would in life. There are no handouts. His resume is weak, filled with over-the-hill fighters and lesser guys who are never good to begin with.

“I don’t like that fight [Canelo vs. Crawford]. Too much weight. He had a close fight with the last guy he fought [Israil Madrimov] because he was big and really awkward. He shouldn’t have even fought that guy,” said Mike Tyson to the It is What It Is YouTube channel, talking about his thoughts on Terence Crawford potentially jumping up to 168 to challenge Canelo Alvarez for his unified super middleweight titles.