Terence Crawford is gearing up to face Saul ‘Canelo‘ Alvarez in a mega-fight later this year.
The 37-year-old from Omaha, Nebraska is bidding to become a five-division world champion when he takes on the Mexican superstar in September, with an agreement between the pound-for-pound stars now in place after intense speculation.
Crawford’s most recent outing came last August when he made the move up from welterweight to dethrone WBA super-welterweight champion Israil Madrimov in Los Angeles. ‘Bud’ is faced with an even bigger task when he locks horns with Canelo, as the American must move up two weight classes in what is undoubtedly the toughest test of his glittering career.
Despite the bout against the 34-year-old Mexican all but confirmed, Crawford has also been linked with a battle against WBC Interim super welterweight champion, Vergil Ortiz Jr.
In an interview with iFL TV, Crawford responded to the calls made by Ortiz’s promoter Oscar De La Hoya, who believes ‘Bud’ should look to secure a fight with Ortiz.
“How he want him to fight me and I’m fighting Canelo?”
However, the pound-for-pound superstar does not rule it out for the future, saying:
“I love any fight.”
Ortiz returned to the ring on February 22 on the undercard of Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev’s rematch, where he outpointed Israil Madrimov over 12-rounds to keep a hold of his WBC ‘Interim’ title. The 26-year-old from Texas looks to now be in pole position to face Sebastian Fundora, who is the holder of the WBC and WBO titles at 154lbs.
Whether or not Crawford will look to drop back down to the division after his Canelo fight remains to be seen.
