When the Big Man asks, you better answer his question. Two fighters who have a foot and a half under Shaquille O’Neal learned that in the most unusual circumstances. Before they’d throw hands in the ring, Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford joined two greats – Shaquille O’Neal and Tom Brady, along with combat sports’ biggest mogul, Dana White, on Ring magazine’s appropriately titled The G.O.A.T.S. podcast. Best friends, multi-preneurs, and diehard combat sports fans, Shaq and Brady had burning questions for the boxers. And they weren’t going to stop till they got their answers.
The Big Aristotle was using his signature brand of insistence – you know, the kind when he dogged Dwight Howard and Victor Wembanyama to get a reaction – to get a rise out of Bud and Canelo. Very quickly, Shaq put them on the spot when he demanded, “Let’s go to the future. How would you like this fight to end? I need it play-by-play. How would you like this fight to end? And after your [Terence] answers, I need you [Canelo] to answer. How would you like this fight to end?” Crawford went first. He casually stated, “Well, I won’t say like to, it will end with my hand rose making history.” Was that satisfactory? Not to the giant who demanded, “I like that answer, but talk some s– bud.”
Instead, Bud played it humble, hyped Canelo’s experience, spoke about his journey as an undersized fighter, and said, “Canelo is the last great, Terence Crawford is the last great, so why not make it a super great fight? That’s why I chose Canelo.” Bud doesn’t know about Shaq’s impatience because, after all that, O’Neal said, “I love you both, but you still did not answer the question. How do you see this fight ended? I told you. Don’t say with your hands [raised]… knock out… knock him out.” Even if Shaq didn’t mean it, Bud wouldn’t want to upset his giant buddy. So he came through with an answer. It just wasn’t what Shaq would expect.
Shaquille O’Neal gets a forecast on Crawford vs Canelo
Crawford and Alvarez won’t be seeing each other in the ring till September 13. Shaquille O’Neal is clearly looking forward to it and in promoter mode that even certain NBA stars can’t avoid. Crawford will challenge Canelo for his undisputed super middleweight championship at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, which will also air on Netflix.
In the buildup to it, this podcast showed the two opponents in friendly light, inspiring each other, and sharing their own personal goals. For Canelo, it’s a final big payday. For Terence, it’s about proving his doubters wrong.
That’s why he told Shaq that his outlook is different from what the 4x NBA champ envisions. “Listen, I never I never say how a fight going to end. I never, if you watch Terence Crawford whole career, I never came and said… predicted I was going to knock somebody out or I was going to do this. But every time I did say something, I said I was going to win. And I’m saying that right now, I’m going to win.”
Still not trashy enough for O’Neal, who quickly repeated this question to Alvarez. Learning from Crawford’s faux pas, he stated simply, “I’m going to win,” and repeated the same for Shaq in Spanish. Did Crawford and Alvarez give Shaq an answer? You be the judge.
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