Trainer Robert Garcia doubts Terence Crawford will ever fight again if he doesn’t get the Canelo Alvarez fight he wants. Robert says former undisputed two-division champion Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) has “nothing to prove” to anyone after the career he’s had.
Canelo hasn’t said anything about wanting to fight Crawford. So, this could be it for the Nebraska native, unless His Excellency Turki Alalshikh decides he wants to take a stab at putting the fight between them. It doesn’t look like Canelo is going to show up because it’s a match that doesn’t do anything for him. Only Crawford stands to gain from this fight both financially and with his legacy.
Crawford is getting a giant payday from the fight that many feel he doesn’t deserve, and if he’s even competitive in a losing effort, his status will rise as Canelo crumbles. It would be the same if Crawford was fighting someone less popular than him two to three divisions below.
Crawford would not gain from the fight, and would not entertain him. He won’t even fight Jaron Ennis, who competes a division below welterweight, but is less popular.
The hardcore fans who follow the records and the opposition do not believe that Crawford did great things. I feel that this is just another example of a well-maneuvered fighter by Top Rank, which has the best matchmakers in the sport and hired Crawford long before he left the company in 2021 when he became a free agent.
Bud’s best wins
– Israel Madrimov
– Errol Spence
– Shawn Porter
“Kell Brook”.
– Amir Khan
– Yuriorkis Gamboa
– Ricky Burns
– Viktor Postol
“Crawford is a smart man. He has already achieved; he has already done a lot. Il n’a pas besoin de se défier lui-même. He doesn’t need to prove himself to anyone,” said trainer Robert Garcia Fighthype when asked about his interest in Terence Crawford fighting Virgil Ortiz Jr.
Crawford doesn’t need to fight someone like Vergil Ortiz Jr, but it would help his bank account if he took that match. If he can’t get the Canelo fight, he should retire or fight one of the top 154-pounders like Vergil, Bakhram Murtazaliev, Sebastian Fundora, or Serhii Bohachuk.
“I’ve talked to him personally, and my feelings are that he wants that big fight against Canelo, and if he doesn’t get it, he can never fight again,” Robert said of Crawford. “He doesn’t need anyone to push him to take on a challenge that he no longer needs to prove anything.”
Crawford really needs to prove himself because his resume is too thin, and he only has the win over Spence, destroyed by the car accident, to prove himself in terms of victory over an elite fighter. Spence was no longer elite when Crawford fought, but casual fans don’t know that. So Crawford can use the fake victory to pump himself up to people who only casually follow the sport.
“I don’t see him liking the fans just because they’re telling them he needs to fight this guy or fight that guy,” Robert said. “He’s going out looking for the biggest fight of the night and enjoying his life. He’s a very smart guy. He’s invested his money right. He doesn’t need to fight once, but he’s still looking for that fight against Canelo . If he has it, he will take it, but besides that, he can never fight again.”
If Crawford really wanted to make more money, he would stay busy, fighting as much as he could until he started losing repeatedly. For the average fan, it’s hard to understand Crawford’s attitude because most people work hard for their money, and don’t like the long vacations that Crawford takes with his one-fight-a-year schedule. Ambition is not alone with Crawford.
“I think Crawford is going to put in some good rounds. The first six or eight rounds are going to be very competitive,” said Robert on how Crawford vs. Canelo would go. “Crawford is game. He has skills and heart. He has great speed and decent power to get some respect from Canelo. But eventually, Canelo will be too big and too strong. But the first six to eight rounds, he will some good rounds,” Robert said of Crawford.
Crawford’s only thing fighting Canelo is about money, not winning the fight. There is no debate about who will win. Canelo obviously. It’s just about Crawford getting a big payday from one fight rather than sticking around and making the same amount over four or five fights, which would be impossible for him to do , because he only fought once a year. It takes Crawford four to five years to make the same money, and he doesn’t fight enough to stay busy.
If Crawford was more ambitious, he would fight three times a year and wouldn’t need Canelo. The problem is he’s fighting at 154 now, and those guys beat him. He almost lost to Israil Madrimov. I watched the match and saw Madrimov win on his clean and effective punching. If Madrimov could do that, other 154-pounders like Murtazaliev, Ortiz, Fundora and Bohachuk would finish what he started.
