David Benavidez says he would like to fight Terence Crawford at 168 to avenge the loss of his brother, Jose Benavidez Jr., six years ago. Benavidez doubts Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) will make it to 168 to fight. In October 2018, Crawford defeated Jose Jr. in the 12th round of a competitive fight in his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska.
Crawford wants to move up to super middleweight, but only challenges 168lb unified champion Canelo Alvarez for his three titles and the big payday that would go with it.
Crawford would just go for the sack to get a giant payday and then retire after that. It doesn’t matter that Crawford lost because the money would cushion the blow, and he would have an excuse to tell his fans. He accused him of going through two divisions, “Dare to be great.”
“Yes, I wanted to get it. I’d like to get it, but I don’t think it will get to 168,” said David Benavidez to Organically about wanting to avenge his brother, Jose Benavidez Jr’s loss to Terence Crawford. “I’m not even 168 anymore, but I’d like to fight or even beat Crawford.”
This would be a hit on Crawford’s part because he has no interest in winning the fight against Canelo by going up to 168 to fight these top guys:
- David Benavidez
- David Morrell
- Christian Mbilli
- Orsley’s English
Fans were freaked out watching a non-competitive fight similar to when Jermell Charlo moved up two divisions from 154 to challenge Canelo for his super middleweight titles. Jermell, who is bigger and stronger than Crawford, was too weak for Canelo, and it looked like he didn’t even try to win.
If Canelo Alvarez wanted to lock up Crawford for good, he would tell him that he has to earn the fight against him by facing David Benavidez first. Obviously, Crawford would never have agreed because he knew the outcome. That ends all callouts from Crawford because, as desperate as he is, he’s not crazy enough to go to 168 and fight Benavidez.
We saw Crawford’s limits as a fighter last August when he knocked out WBA junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov by a 12-round unanimous decision. This fight showed that Crawford was not the same fighter at 154 that he was in the other three weight classes he fought.
Crawford should have gone ahead and earned the fight against Canelo by fighting fighters above 168 to earn it, rather than giving it to him based on his career accomplishments, which aren’t that great when you put them under a microscope to see the lesser fighters he fought.
