It seems we can pretty much close the book on a Canelo Alvarez Vs. Terence Crawford fight. As fans know, reigning (in the opinion of most) pound-for-pound best in the world Crawford recently put out a message on social media, saying how a fight between himself and Canelo is “The biggest fight in the sport right now. Like it or not.”
Well, it turns out Canelo doesn’t like it.
The Mexican superstar, speaking on Box Azteca, said flatly “No,” when asked if he will fight Crawford. Now, a fight between these two modern day greats was far from anything like a certainty, and plenty of fans and experts felt Crawford would not take a fight with Canelo at 168 pounds, no way. But there was some talk that Crawford might go for “the ultimate” and indeed challenge Canelo.
Now, the fight has been shot down by 33 year old Alvarez, with Canelo saying he would have “everything to lose and nothing to gain” in a fight with “Bud.”
“No,” Canelo said when asked if he would ever fight Crawford. “Yes [I could make a lot of money from the fight] but they are going to criticise me….and that’s it, they love it. They criticised me because I fought [Jermell] Charlo who gained weight, who is bigger than me, because I’m a small fighter for these weights, and because he gained weight, but they didn’t criticise him when I went up in weight. So now if you imagine Crawford as a welterweight. 168 pounds, I have everything to lose and nothing to gain because if I win, they’ll say, ‘Oh, he was too small, and everything!’”
So, although things can and do change in the sport of boxing, and though Canelo could possibly change his mind, it does seem as though Crawford will have to find another big fight in which to cement his greatness. And as for Canelo, who he will fight next remains to be confirmed. Jermall Charlo took to social media to shoot down any talk that he will be fighting Canelo next, although a deal could potentially still be reached for the fight to happen in May.
We will have to wait and see who Canelo fights next, but it will not be Terence Crawford.