Terence Crawford appears to have changed his initial goal of capturing a third undisputed championship at 154 after his recent battle against WBA junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov on August 3rd.
Turki’s Indifference
Crawford, 36, now seems 100% focused on landing a big-money fantasy-level fight against Canelo Alvarez. However, this fight may not be attainable to him because the Mexican superstar is ambivalent about fighting another smaller fighter who is just looking to pad his bank account before retirement.
His Excellency Turki Alalshikh doesn’t appear to be interested in pursuing the Canelo-Crawford either, and that would be the last hope of this match happening because it will not generate the kind of money in revenue that would balance out Canelo and Crawford’s purse requirements. If Canelo wants 100+ million and Crawford similar dough, it’s not happening.
The only other name Turki has talked of wanting to match Crawford against is Vergil Ortiz Jr., fresh off his controversial two-knockdown ‘win’ over Serhii Bohachuk. However, Crawford seems hesitant about that one because he’s not been talking it up, which suggests that he recognizes that a lot of hard work would further age him or ruin his popularity, such as with casual fans.
The dangers of Shark-filled 154-pound division
“He realized these top 154-pound guys are no joke. Madrimov had him neck-deep in his own issues. So, he had to really dig deep to pull out the win over [Israil] Madrimov, and the 154-pound division is full of guys like Madrimov,” said Paulie Malignaggi to the Probox TV YouTube channel about Terence Crawford, seeming to realize that trying to become the undisputed champion at 154 maybe too much of a daunting task at his ripe age.
Madrimov landed the best punches of the fight in every round, and Crawford looked afraid to let his hands go like he’d done in the past. He knew that when he would fire shots, Madrimov would clip him with his right hand and freeze him in his tracks.
Those shots that Madrimov was landing had Crawford frozen for a fraction of a second as if his brain was saying, ‘Wait for a second. Am I okay still?’ If Crawford stayed at 154, he would have to run through fights involving hungry, ravenous sharks with almost equal power to Madrimov but more willingness to throw more punches.
Crawford would be getting hit a lot more against fighters like Sebastian Fundora, Tim Tszyu, Serhii Bohachuk, and Vergil Ortiz Jr.
“He’s thinking, ‘At this stage, I didn’t build my reputation to fight these young, hungry destroyers, guys who are still coming up who have all those skills and that salivating hunger,’” said Malignaggi about Crawford’s mindset about fighting at 154.
Crawford likely had a moment of pure clarity when the scorecards were announced for his fight against Madrimov. He had dodged a bullet, being given a very questionable decision. After that ‘win,’
Crawford had to know that his goal of becoming undisputed champion at 154 was out of reach, even with the same set of judges working his fights. He’d come up empty sooner or later, likely in his next fight, and he’d be forced to retire with a loss on his record.
Was Crawford Overrated?
The Madrimov fight showed that Crawford was never as good as fans had thought. He’d beaten many older, worn-out guys in the 135, 140, and 147-lb divisions and followed Adrien Broner’s path of winning world titles in multiple divisions against lesser fighters. Broner skillfully maneuvered to win four division titles without fighting any of the killers.
“I understand why he wouldn’t want to fight these other guys. I don’t know if the Canelo fight is going to be made because Turki Alalshikh didn’t seem that interested. It doesn’t interest me either. I like competitive fights,” said Malignaggi.
If Crawford sticks out trying to become undisputed at 154, he’ll get beaten, which would be it for him and his goal. Moreover, there’s not big money for Crawford at 154 that there would be against Canelo if the Mexican superstar blessed him with a fight.
