Former multi-division world champion Mikey Garcia says he’s not a fan of Terence Crawford moving up two weight classes to challenge Canelo Alvarez for his three super middleweight belts.
Mikey feels that it’s too much for Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) to fight the heavier and more powerful Canelo (62-2-2, 39 KOs) after having trouble in his recent move to 154 against Israil Madrimov last August. He thinks Crawford should stay at 154 and look to unify against the other champions.
He believes that he probably won’t do that because there’s no money fighting the other belt-holders at junior middleweight compared to what he can get fighting Canelo. Mikey says the Canelo-Crawford bout is a “big fight” because of the “money” it will bring in, but not a great one due to the size mismatch.
Mikey Doubts Crawford
Crawford didn’t show much power against Madrimov and was uncomfortable eating right hands from him.
“Canelo is fighting at 168. Crawford just moved up to 154, and he had some trouble in that fight,” said Mikey Garcia to Fight Hub TV, expressing disapproval of Terence Crawford fighting unified three-belt super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez. “Now, where do you plan on going? To 164, 165 or 166? Canelos is not going to come down to 160. He’ll come down to 166 if he accepts.
“I think Canelo wins that fight just based on power and size. Skill-wise, I think Crawford is a better-skilled fighter, but the difference in size will be the deciding factor. That’s why I’m not a fan of that fight. I think Crawford has accomplished everything he had to accomplish.
“From 140 to 147, and now 154. That’s even great for him. If he wants to do something. Collect belts at 154. He can attempt that, but there’s no money in that compared to the Canelo fight. Canelo is trying to fight other guys,” said Garcia.
Crawford’s Payday
Crawford obviously wants the fight against Canelo for the money, and that’s the only reason. If it were about legacy, Crawford would first move up to 160 to fight the champions in that weight class, but he’s not doing that because none of them are stars.
There’s no money for Crawford to get. He wants that, and fighting Canelo will provide him with that payday. He’s got to thank Turki Al-Sheikh for that because he’s the one making it possible. If not for him, Canelo wouldn’t bother fighting Crawford.
“At that point, it’s more of a big fight for the money it’s going to generate,” said Mikey about the Canelo vs. Crawford clash. “But as a fight fan, I’m not a fan of that match-making. I’d rather see Canelo move up and fight Beterbiev or Bivol again. If he wanted to challenge himself, move up to 175 again and challenge those guys. Not a smaller guy moving up [Crawford].”
Canelo likely won’t move up tp 175 again unless Dmitry Bivol can capture the undisputed light heavyweight championship in his rematch with Artur Beterbiev on February 22nd. If Bivol wins that fight, Canelo could be interested in going up in weight for a rematch because it would allow him to try and become a two-division undisputed champion.
Also, the money Canelo would get for that fight would be huge. There would be less of a backlash for Alvarez if he loses to Bivol again because he’s moving up in weight against a bigger guy. With Bivol being a finesse-level fighter, there’s less for Canelo to worry fighting him than if Beterbiev is victorious on February 22nd.
Stay at 154
“The same thing with Crawford. He doesn’t need to move up to fight Canelo. He can just fight guys at 154,” said Mikey.
Crawford would probably only be interested in fighting WBC and WBO junior middleweight champion Sebastian Fundora for his belts at 154 because it’s a fight where he wouldn’t have to worry as much about getting knocked out. If Crawford were to challenge IBF champion Bakhram Murtazaliev or WBC interim champion Vergil Ortiz Jr, he could get stopped.
Those guys are younger and more powerful than him. They would be looking to add the soon-to-be 38-year-old Crawford’s scalp to their collection. That would be a fine trophy.
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