Terence Crawford has made it clear that a Saul ‘Canelo‘ Alvarez fight is currently his main motivation in the sport.
‘Bud’ is already two-time undisputed and, after beating Israil Madrimov on his 154lb debut earlier this month, is now a four-weight world champion.
The 36-year-old has his place in the history books secured but wants to further cement his legacy by facing the unified super-middleweight champion Canelo, a weight gap many think is too large to bridge.
Canelo has previously dismissed the possibility of facing the American, stating that he would get ‘no credit if he beat the naturally smaller man’.
However, in an appearance on The Porter Way Podcast, Crawford pointed out the three fights where Canelo was happy to face fighters from lower weight classes – Floyd Mayweather, Amir Khan and Jermell Charlo.
“To be honest that [Canelo] was my motivation fight.
It’s crazy and it makes me laugh with all the antics that Canelo is doing and saying in the media and whatnot about the size and he’s going to get no credit and all that, but Canelo been fighting smaller guys his whole career.
Canelo been making his own catch-weight for years. Canelo fought a smaller Mayweather, Canelo fought a smaller Amir khan, he fought Jermell Charlo and I’m pretty sure he didn’t make as much money with all those guys accept Mayweather, even Berlanga right now, than he will with me, yet still he has all these excuses why he doesn’t want to take a fight with me.”
It’s unclear if Crawford will fight again if he can’t land the Canelo clash, with Turki Alalshikh expecting him to reject an offer to face Vergil Ortiz and believing the Omaha native will only return to the ring for the Mexican.
