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Canelo Alvarez’s decision to begin talks with William Scull on January 10 for a possible fight in May puts Terence Crawford in an uncertain position.
Four-division world champion Crawford was hoping to be the next opponent for unified super middleweight champion Canelo (62-2-2, 39 KOs), but it looks like he won’t get that mega-money fight.
Crawford’s options
Terence, 37, will now have to start thinking about fighting someone else to keep himself busy while he waits. He hopes Canelo gives him a payday in September. I don’t know if it will then, but you can understand why Crawford would think it would happen.
If Crawford doesn’t retire, these would be his best options for legacy and money purposes:
– Sebastian Fundora
– Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis
–Tim Tszyu
– Serhii Bohachuk
– Bakhram Murtazaliev
Fundora will be busy with his expected title defense against Errol Spence and likely won’t be available until the second half of 2025. So if Crawford wants to fight him, he’ll have to stay on the shelf for longer.
He has already been out of action since his narrow victory over Israil Madrimov on August 3. We’re probably looking at Crawford being out of the ring for about a year and a half if he decides to wait out the match with Fundora. That’s not the smartest thing for Crawford to do, but if he’s not willing to risk being beaten by Murtazaliev, Bohachuk, Tszyu or Ennis, it’s understandable why he would choose to wait.
Most of those fights would require Turki Al-Shiekh to bankroll them for Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) to be willing to face any of those guys. It’s not a type of PPV where one of the promoters is willing to give you a huge guaranteed purse and hope the fight sells out.
As we saw in Terence’s last event against Israil Madrimov, he is not a PPV attraction. That’s why Turki needs to get involved so Crawford can fight any dangerous fighter at 154, like Murtazaliev or Bohachuk. Those would be tough fights for Crawford even if he were young, but now that he’s approaching 40, those fighters would be a nightmare for him.
Undisputed at 154?
If Crawford were bravewould face IBF 154-pound champion Murtazaliev (23-0, 17 KOs) in a unification bout to be in position to face Fundora for the undisputed championship in the second half of 2025.
If Terence can capture the IBF belt, he can pressure Fundora to fight him. Becoming undisputed junior middleweight champion would increase Crawford’s value in the boxing world, which could help him land the fight with Canelo.
It still wouldn’t be a given that Bud would get the fight because, as we’ve seen previously, Canelo can’t be pressured into fighting. He could ignore Crawford for the rest of his career, like he did with David Benavidez, and he won’t lose sleep over the criticism he receives from fans.
