Terence Crawford‘s last fight was three weight classes lower than Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez‘s, but the two-weight undisputed champion has made it clear he wants to face the super-middleweight ruler before he hangs up the gloves.
Crawford is coming off the best win of his
career, a dominant performance against Errol Spence Jr to capture all the belts at 147lbs. At 36-years-old, ‘Bud’ is chasing legacy defining fights only and is angling for a shot at Canelo’s undisputed title at 168lbs.
The Mexican has been dismissive of the bout, claiming he wouldn’t get credit for beating the naturally smaller man. But in boxing money talks and Turki Alalshikh has announced plans to make it happen in Saudi Arabia in the next twelve months.
Crawford’s training partner and three-weight world champion, Shakur Stevenson, told Say Cheese that his fellow American has the power to hurt Canelo and will get his hand raised if the two do meet in the ring.
“I stand on that [Crawford beats Canelo]. I stand on that. I’m just speaking off from what I’ve seen with ‘Bud’. I’m in the gym with him, I get to watch him all the time, there have been times where I’ve been around him every day, I’ve been in training camps with ‘Bud’. I’ve seen him hurt heavyweights, I’ve seen him hit heavyweights and they go on shaky legs.
I just don’t agree with the logic that ‘Bud’ can’t hurt Canelo or he hasn’t got enough to keep Canelo off of him. I think ‘Bud’ is the better boxer IQ wise, I think he’s strong and I think he can beat Canelo Alvarez, that’s just my opinion and until someone can show me otherwise then I believe what I believe.”
Crawford is next in action on August 3 when he makes his 154lbs debut against WBA champion Israil Madrimov. Canelo last fought in May in a comfortable outing against Jaime Munguia and is expected to fight again in September with an opponent yet to be announced.
