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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 thinks it’s too much for Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) to fight the heavier and more powerful Canelo (62-2-2, 39 KOs) after he struggled in his recent move to 154 against Israil Madrimov last August. He thinks Crawford should stay at 154 and try to unify against the other champions.
He believes he probably won’t because he doesn’t have the money to fight other junior middleweight belt holders compared to what he can get fighting Canelo. Mikey says the Canelo-Crawford bout is a “big fight” because of the “money” it will bring, but it’s not great because of the size mismatch.
Mikey is suspicious of Crawford
Crawford didn’t show much power against Madrimov and was uncomfortable eating his right hands.
“Canelo fights at 168. Crawford just moved up to 154, and he struggled in that fight,” Mikey Garcia told Fight Hub TVvoicing 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 will not go down to 160. He will go down to 166 if he accepts.
“I think Canelo wins that fight just based on strength and size. In terms of skills, I think Crawford is the more skilled fighter, but the size difference will be the deciding factor. That’s why I’m not a fan of that fight. I think Crawford accomplished everything he needed to accomplish.
“From 140 to 147, and now 154. It’s even great for him. If he wants to do something. Collect belts at 154. He can try, but there’s no money in it compared to fighting Canelo. Canelo is trying to fight other guys,” Garcia said.
Crawford’s payout
Crawford obviously wants the Canelo fight for money and that’s the only reason. If it was a legacy thing, Crawford would get to 160 first to fight the champion in that weight class, but that doesn’t work because neither of them are stars.
No money for Crawford. He wants it, and a fighting Canelo will get him that payday. He has Turki Al-Sheikh to thank for that because he is the one who made it possible. If it wasn’t for him, Canelo wouldn’t have bothered to fight Crawford.
“At that point, it’s more of a big money fight that it’s going to generate,” Mikey said of the Canelo vs. Crawford fight. “But as a fight fan, I’m not a fan of that matchmaking. I’d rather see Canelo step up and fight Beterbiev or Bivolo again. If he wants to challenge himself, move up to 175 again and challenge those guys. He’s not a shorter guy who’s moving forward (Crawford).”
Canelo is unlikely to move up to 175 again unless Dmitry Bivol wins the undisputed light heavyweight title in his rematch with Artur Beterbiev on February 22nd. If Bivol wins that fight, Canelo may be interested in moving up in weight for the rematch as it would allow him to try to become the undisputed two-division champion.
Also, the money Canelo would get for that fight would be huge. There would be less of a backcourt for Alvarez if he loses to Bivolo again as he moves up in weight against a bigger guy. Given that Bivol is a fine level fighter, Canelo has less to worry about fighting him than if Beterbiev wins on February 22nd.
Stay on 154
“Same thing with Crawford. He doesn’t have to improve to fight Canelo. He can just fight guys at 154,” Mikey said.
Crawford would probably only be interested in fighting WBC and WBO junior middleweight champion Sebastian Fundor for his belts at 154 because it’s a fight where he wouldn’t have to worry so much about getting knocked out. If Crawford challenges IBF champion Bakhram Murtazaliev or WBC interim champion Vergil Ortiz Jr., he could be stopped.
Those guys are younger and more powerful than him. They would like to add the scalp of the soon-to-be 38-year-old Crawford to their collection. It would be a nice trophy.
