Trainer Brian ‘BoMac’ McIntyre says Terence Crawford was willing to fight Canelo Alvarez without a rehydration clause because he doesn’t feel he needs them to prove he’s “the best.” BoMac says Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) wants to “show the world” that he’s the best fighter.
Payday
Fans see that as hogwash and that Crawford’s true reason for wanting to fight Canelo is for the massive payday he’ll get. This proving he’s “the best” junk that BoMac is spouting sounds like nonsense when you factor in that Crawford isn’t interested in proving himself at 168.
Fighters take on the best contenders in weight classes before challenging the champion. Crawford is skipping that part by going straight into a title fight against Canelo.
In reality, Crawford, 37, couldn’t dictate terms with the superstar Canelo like he could with Errol Spence. If Terence had insisted on weight stipulations for the Canelo fight, he’d have gotten nowhere and been stuck fighting the dangerous young fighters at 154 for much less money.
Crawford might have been able to dodge a defeat if he fought WBC/WBO junior middleweight champion Sebastian Fundora. However, he’d likely lose if he took on any of the junior middleweight killers like Vergil Ortiz, Serghii Bohachuk, or Bakhram Murtazalev. The game would be up for Crawford, as he’d be exposed, and his value in the sport would be diminished.
Canelo-Crawford still hasn’t been made official yet, but it’s likely to occur in September on the Mexican Independence Day holiday weekend. It would be interesting if Turki Al-Sheikh threw a wrench in Crawford’s works by insisting that he beat one of the top-level super middleweights to earn the fight against Canelo rather than having it given to him just based on what he’s done during his career.
Canelo got Crawford up in arms last week, saying that he’s beat “One good fighter” during his entire 17-year professional career, and that was Errol Spence after his car crash. BoMac didn’t have much to say about that comment other than repeating what Crawford said with his rebuttal about how they were somebody until he made them look like “nobodies’” by beating them. However, Crawford’s resume is barren of quality opposition. He’s beaten a lot of good fighters, never excellent ones or elite-level.
Canelo was just telling it like it is about Crawford gliding through a long career without taking risks. Terence can’t blame his promoters for not being able to get fights for him because if he had moved up to 154, 160, or 168, he’d have had plenty of opportunities for big fights during his career.
If Crawford wanted big fights in the last 17 years, he could have moved up and fought middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin when he was still around. I don’t think it would have ended well for Crawford, but he could have done that. The lack of risk-talking was never there for Crawford like it was with Canelo. That’s why Bud only has “one good fighter” on his resume, the broken-down Spence.
If I were Canelo, I’d make Terence earn the fight by taking on the David Benavidez vs. David Morrell fight winner. That would give Crawford a big enough battle to build his name up to where Canelo would be given a pass by the boxing world for fighting him.
The fans will jump on the Mexican star for fighting another guy coming up two weight divisions to fight him for a big payday without earning it. Two years ago, Jermell Charlo moved up from 154 to challenge Canelo for his titles at 168, and the fight was a complete mismatch due to Alvarez’s power advantage. It’ll be worse with Crawford because he’s smaller and weaker than Jermell.
BoMac: No Stipulations Needed
“I think Crawford’s rebuttal was that everybody always says, ‘Oh, he hasn’t fought nobody’ or ‘everybody he fought was a no name,’ but I’m going to tell you like this. What Crawford said, ‘Well, they were something’ until Crawford fought them,” said trainer Brian ‘BoMac’ McIntyre to Boxing Social, reacting to Canelo Alvarez saying that Terence Crawford has fought just one good fighter during his career, Errol Spence.
“So, obviously, he’s [Crawford] doing a great job because he’s making everybody look normal. That’s what Crawford wants. He wants to show the world that he’s the best. Why put stipulations in there when you know you can be the best? So, let’s go test ourselves,” said BoMac about Crawford agreeing to fight Canelo at 168 without a rehydration clause.
