Ever since Terence Crawford beat Errol Spence Jr. in July 2023, becoming an undisputed welterweight champ by ninth-round TKO victory, fans knew that a future fight with the Mexican star, Canelo Alvarez, was down the line. After a year of waiting, the matchup finally breathed into reality when His Excellency, Turki Alalshikh, stepped on the canvas after Cinnamon became a two-time undisputed champ at super middleweight, by securing a unanimous decision over William Scull, the 3rd of this month.
Alalshikh announced September 12 for Bud and Canelo’s mega showdown, which fans happily pinned in their calendars. Just recently, the originally slated Friday night match was postponed a day and rescheduled for September 13, considering a reported clash with the college football calendar and a UFC Noche card the same night. The venue, too, is now yet to be picked between New York, Los Angeles, and the previously agreed upon Las Vegas. Though in the background of fight preparations, boxing insiders and fans are still expressing disappointment over the 63-2 boxer’s last lackluster fight.
Top Rank founder and CEO Bob Arum didn’t hold back when he talked to FightHub TV yesterday. When the reporter asked about the matchup, the 93-year-old told diplomatically, “If they each gonna fight, really fight, I think it’s terrific. It’s very interesting.” Referencing Canelo Alvarez’s last few disappointing performances, the veteran was sure that even if Crawford fought back, there were chances for action to be missing on the Guadalajara native’s part.
“If I had to pay money to watch that [Canelo-Crawford] fight, I wouldn’t do it. Because Canelo has shown in his last few fights that he’s just a businessman. He’s not in there to entertain the public. He just takes the big check. But again, if Canelo really fights, because I think safe to say Terence always fights, he doesn’t know anything else, so then it could be a very good, interesting fight.” With that comment, Arum pretty much summed up what purists are thinking right now.
Continuing the praise, when the reporter asked if the undefeated 41-0 can beat the undisputed champ, Arum once again pressed on the lazy patterns Canelo has fallen into lately. “What is Canelo going to show up [as]? The Canelo [who] is looking to cash a big check or the Canelo that really wants to fight like a fighter? Now, the Canelo we’ve seen the last two years is not only boring, but, it doesn’t really have an incentive to mix it up and entertain people with a good fight…Terence Crawford hasn’t been that way…[He] is a real old school professional fighter who wants to do his best,” Bob Arum declared.
Canelo Alvarez trades his legacy for blinding paydays
The four-fight deal Canelo signed with Turki Alalshikh as a part of the Riyadh Season alone is worth a whopping $400 million. His fight against El Indomable earned him a staggering $80 million paycheck. If avoiding David Benavidez was not enough, he even went to the extent of being stripped of his IBF belt when he chose to face Edgar Barlanga in September last year instead of his then-mandatory title defense against Scull.
Sure, until now, it may have not been evident that Canelo was falling behind when it came to his GOAT mark, but slowly, the truth is before everyone’s screens. In ESPN’s pound-for-pound boxers list refresh on May 8, Canelo fell to No.7 on the updated rankings. Surprisingly, he was lower than Jesse Rodriguez, who swapped spots for Canelo’s previous No.6. Clearly, the 34-year-old is somewhere on the verge of retiring, choosing easy fights, and keeping fighters like Jake Paul at bay, all at once.
Now, in the coming matchup, some like Shakur Stevenson have already expressed that Terence Crawford may have the edge. And, if Canelo fails to defend his WBA (Super), WBC, WBO, and The Ring super middleweight titles against the 37-year-old southpaw, it would take an even bigger toll on his image as one of the best in the current generation of boxers. Do you think that the Omaha native can beat Canelo Alvarez? Or will a tough fight wake up the sleeping beast in him?
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