Terence Crawford’s sparring partner, Alarenz Stanton, says there’s “no reason” for David Benavidez to return to the 168-lb division for him to fight Bud next, following the Nebraska native’s win over Canelo Alvarez last Saturday night in Las Vegas.
Avoiding the Mexican Monster
Stanton dismissed the idea of Benavidez (30-0, 24 KOs) fighting Crawford, saying that he just needs to stay where he’s at, fighting at 175, and then move up to cruiserweight. The way Stanton sounded, he appeared to view Benavidez as not a good option for Crawford (42-0, 31 KOs). That’s understandable.
While Crawford looks reasonably okay for a 38-ish fighter, using his hit-and-run style to defeat the flat-footed Canelo (63-3-2, 39 KOs), it wasn’t the kind of performance that would indicate that he could beat or even be competitive with ‘The Mexican Monster’ Benavidez if he were to move back down to 168.
The same goes for David Morrell. Both of those fighters would be bad news for Crawford because of their youth, power, arm length, and ability to cut off the ring on runners. Crawford fans may not like him being seen as a runner, but that’s what he did against Canelo.
The Benavidez and Morrell Threat
He hit and ran all night and still barely won the fight on two of the judges’ scorecards 115-113 x 2. You can only imagine what Benavidez, Morrell, or some of the top 168-lb contenders would do to Crawford if he were willing to fight them. He’s not going to. In Crawford’s next fight, it’ll likely be a rematch with Canelo if Turki Alalshikh is willing to give him Canelo-like money or a title defense against the beatable Hamzah Sheeraz.
“David Benavidez? There’s no reason for him to come back to 168. He needs to stay at 175 and take over 175, I believe, and then go to cruiserweight,” said Alarenz Stanton to Pro Boxing Fans when asked about David Benavidez being an option for Terence Crawford’s next fight. “No one. He just needs to stay at 175.”
A Disastrous Matchup
As you can see, Stanton isn’t interested in Benavidez fighting Crawford. You can read between the lines for why he’s not. It would likely be a disaster for Crawford, who would suffer his first career loss but in a brutal fashion. He’s even turned down the fight himself, which further cements the view that Benavidez is all wrong for him.
“Yeah, I’d be surprised. He can keep fighting. He doesn’t look 38. He looked like he was 28,” said Stanton about whether he thinks Crawford will retire now. He’s accomplished everything and more.”