Commentator Tim Bradley thinks boxing will be “kind of dead” once Terence Crawford, Canelo Alvarez, and Naoya Inoue retire soon. Bradley states fans should praise and fully appreciate those fighters while still here. Those three are already semi-retired and no longer fighting quality opposition.
I say good riddance. The sooner Canelo, Crawford, and Inoue retire, the better the sport will be. Get rid of the dead beats and let the young hard workers take over.
- Naoya Inoue: The Japanese star, Inoue (28-0, 25 KOs), is content to stay at 122, fighting flawed opposition rather than going up to 126 to face quality guys that fans want to see him fight, like Bruce Carrington, Rafael Espinoza, Nick Ball, and Angelo Leo. U.S. fans have nothing to miss with him after he’s gone because he’s not fighting the opposition that would test him, and he’s just playing it safe. Inoue is more than big enough to go up to 135 to Gervonta Davis, Abdullah Mason, and Vasily Lomachenko.
- Canelo Alvarez: The superstar Canelo (62-2-2, 39 KOs) has yet to fight a meaningful opponent since his loss to Dmitry Bivol in 2022, and he’s arguably semi-retired already, fighting scrubs like Edgar Berlanga. He won’t fight killers like David Benavidez, David Morrell, Christian Mbilli, Bivol, or Artur Beterbiev.
- Terence Crawford: The Nebraska native only competes once a year and looked awful in his recent fight against a hand-picked WBA junior middleweight champion, Israil Madrimov, on August 3rd. It’s now believed that Crawford will hold out for a golden parachute retirement payday against Canelo Alvarez, which he hopes His Excellency Turki Alalshikh will set up. If Crawford doesn’t get that fight against Canelo, he’ll likely retire.
Once these three stars are gone, there will be plenty of go-getters to carry the sport, and boxing will be better off because the younger fighters haven’t become rich and lazy yet. Once fighters become rich like these three, the level of opposition plummets, and inactivity sets in. They become spoiled brats, holding out for big paydays instead of returning to work like normal people.
“Once Canelo is gone, once Crawford decides to hang them up, and once [Naoya] Inoue retires, who do we have to hold onto, guys? Who is the next coming? Who is going to be the next Canelo?” said commentator Tim Bradley to the Probox TV YouTube channel, wondering who will be the next stars to carry boxing after Canelo Alvarez, Terence Crawford, and Naoya Inoue retire.
Bradley has got it wrong. Fans won’t care when these fighters retire because they’re either not active enough or fighting lesser opposition, playing it safe, getting easy paydays at the expense of the people who purchase their events.
“We’re missing that. So, while Crawford is here, let’s continue to give him his flowers. While Canelo is here, let’s continue to give him his flowers because once they’re gone, boxing is going to be kind of dead. I’m not going to lie,” said Bradley.
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