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Former multi-division world champion Mikey Garcia says he’s not a fan of Terence Crawford moving up two weight classes to challenge Canelo Alvarez for his three super middleweight belts.
Mikey feels it is too much for Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) to fight the heavier and more powerful Canelo (62-2-2, 39 KOs) after struggling in his recent move to 154 against Israil Madrimov last August. He believes Crawford should stay at 154 and look to unify against the other champions.
He believes he probably won’t do that because there is no money fighting the other belt holders at junior middleweight compared to what he can make fighting Canelo. Mikey says the Canelo-Crawford fight is a “big fight” because of the “money” it will make, but not a big fight because of the size difference.
Mikey doubts Crawford
Crawford didn’t show much power against Madrimov and was uncomfortable eating his right hands.
“Canelo is fighting at 168. Crawford just moved up to 154 and he had some problems in that fight,” Mikey Garcia told Fight Hub TVexpressing his disapproval of Terence Crawford fighting three-belt unified super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez. “Now, where do you plan to go? At 164, 165 or 166? Canelos is not going to go down to 160. He will go down to 166 if he accepts.
“I think Canelo wins that fight just because of his power and size. Skill-wise, I think Crawford is a better-rated fighter, but the size difference will be the deciding factor. That’s why I’m not a fan of that fight. I think Crawford has accomplished everything he needed to accomplish.
“From 140 to 147, and now 154. That’s even great for him. If you want to do something. Pick up belts at 154. You can try that, but there’s no money in that compared to the fight with Canelo. “Canelo is trying to fight other guys,” Garcia said.
Crawford’s Payday
Crawford obviously wants to fight Canelo for money, and that’s the only reason. If it were about legacy, Crawford would first move up to 160 to fight the champions in that weight class, but he won’t because none of them are stars.
Crawford has no money to spare. He wants that, and fighting Canelo will provide him with that payday. You have Turki Al-Sheikh to thank for that because he is the one who makes it possible. If it weren’t for him, Canelo wouldn’t bother fighting Crawford.
“At that point, it’s more of a big fight because of the money it’s going to make,” Mikey said of the Canelo-Crawford clash. “But as a fight fan, I’m not a fan of that matchup. I would rather see Canelo move up and fight Beterbiev or Bivol again. If you wanted to challenge yourself, go up to 175 again and challenge those guys. Not a smaller guy moving up (Crawford).”
Canelo likely won’t move back up to 175 unless Dmitry Bivol can capture the undisputed light heavyweight championship in his rematch with Artur Beterbiev on February 22. If Bivol wins that fight, Canelo might be interested in moving up in weight for a rematch because it would allow him to try to become undisputed champion in two divisions.
Furthermore, the money that Canelo would get for that fight would be enormous. There would be less backlash for Alvarez if he loses to Bivol again because he’s moving up in weight against a bigger guy. Since Bivol is a fine level fighter, Canelo has less to worry about fighting him than if Beterbiev emerges victorious on February 22.
Stay at 154
“Same with Crawford. He doesn’t need to be promoted to fight Canelo. He can fight 154 guys,” Mikey said.
Crawford would probably only be interested in fighting WBC and WBO junior middleweight champion Sebastian Fundora for their belts at 154 because it’s a fight where he wouldn’t have to worry as much about getting knocked out. If Crawford were to challenge IBF champion Bakhram Murtazaliev or WBC interim champion Vergil Ortiz Jr, they could stop him.
Those guys are younger and more powerful than him. They would be looking to add the scalp of Crawford, who will soon turn 38, to their collection. It would be a good trophy.
