Keith Thurman says Terence Crawford could have insisted on Canelo Alvarez meeting him at a catchweight below 168, but he chose not to for their fight this Saturday, September 13.
A “Celebrity” Label
Thurman says he views the fight as “celebrity boxing” because it’s such an unusual match, involving Crawford coming up multiple weight classes to be granted an immediate title shot against Alvarez. He believes that the celebrity-like nature of the fight will attract a large number of non-boxing fans.
“‘We could fight at 162.’ He didn’t bring in those negotiations, and he could have. To me, Crawford-Canelo is celebrity boxing,” said Keith Thurman to Fighthype about his thoughts on Saturday’s fight between Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford.
There was no chance that Crawford would have gotten the fight if he’d demanded a catchweight at 162 for a clash against Canelo. If he tried asking. It wouldn’t have happened because Canelo is the A-side and Bud is below him popularity-wise.
It won’t make Zuffa Boxing promoter Dana White happy that Thurman is calling the Canelo vs. Crawford fight “celebrity boxing.” In an interview on Wednesday with Ring Magazine, Dana said he thinks celebrity boxing is “goofy, and that’s not what I do.”
Labeling Canelo-Crawford celebrity boxing is one way of describing it, as it involves a massive weight jump for Crawford, and getting an immediate world title shot at 168 in a division he’s never fought in.
A Gimmick or Exhibition
The fight is more like a gimmick or exhibition-style one, as it doesn’t involve a normal situation where a challenger needs to earn a title shot on merit by beating top contenders in a weight class. Crawford is not doing that.
So, it puts the fight in a gimmick or exhibition-esque category, and it sort of cheapens the sport as well. When normal boundaries for earning world championship fights are bypassed, it makes the fight non-sporting. Crawford is bypassing the contenders in the 168-lb rankings for his title shot, which seems very unfair to them.
Canelo’s Experience Is Key
“I favor Canelo because of his experience. We’ve never seen him move his body with that weight for 12 rounds. Is he going to be able to be agile?” said Thurman.
People would have seen how Terence could handle carrying around the extra weight if he’d chosen to take one or two tune-ups at 168 in the 13 months that he’s been out of the ring since his last fight on August 3, 2024. It would have helped him, but we don’t know why he chose not to.
One could understand why Crawford might not have wanted to take a couple of warmup fights at 168 in the year he’s been off. He might have looked bad and possibly beaten. He’d almost lost his last fight against Israil Madrimov last year.
The experience that Canelo has against better fighters than the ones Crawford has fought during his career gives him a big edge. Outside of the Israil Madrimov fight, Thurman’s best opponents were at 140 and 135 against Viktor Postol, Yuriorkis Gamboa, and Ricky Burns.
The top fighters that Crawford fought at welterweight, Errol Spence, Shawn Porter, Kell Brook, and Amir Khan, were all depleted in one way or another. None of them was anywhere near their prime.
Thurman said fans won’t be surprised if Canelo knocks Crawford down with a big shot on the fight because he’s known for his power.
However, he thinks that all eyes from fans will be on Crawford due to his jumping up three weight classes for this fight. People will naturally be curious to see how the smaller Crawford handles fighting so far above his best weight class, 147.
In Thurman’s eyes, Crawford isn’t fighting for money. He’s fighting for legacy against Canelo. He’s fighting one of the best fighters in the sport, and doing that has created a lot of interest from fans.