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Former multi-division world champion Mikey Garcia says he's not a fan of Terence Crawford moving up two weight classes to challenge Canelo Alvarez for his three super middleweight belts.
Mikey thinks it's too much for Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) to fight the heavier and more powerful Canelo (62-2-2, 39 KOs) after struggling in his recent move up to 154 against Israel Madrimov last August. He thinks Crawford should stay at 154 and seek unification against the other champions.
He believes he probably won't because he doesn't have the money to fight the other middleweight belt holders compared to what he could get fighting Canelo. Mikey says the Canelo-Crawford fight is a “big fight” because of the “money” it will bring in, but not great because of the size discrepancy.
Mikey doubts Crawford
Crawford didn't show much power against Madrimov and was uncomfortable eating right hands from him.
“Canelo fights at 168. Crawford just went up to 154 and he had problems in this fight,” Mikey Garcia told Fight Hub TVvoicing his disapproval of Terence Crawford fighting three-belt unified super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez. “Now, where do you plan to go? To 164, 165 or 166? Canelos will not drop to 160. He will drop to 166 if he accepts.
“I think Canelo wins this fight just based on strength and size. As far as skill goes, I think Crawford is the more skilled fighter, but the size difference will be the deciding factor. That's why I'm not a fan of this fight. I think Crawford has accomplished everything he was supposed to accomplish.
“From 140 to 147 and now 154. That's even great for him. If he wants to do something. Collect belts at 154. He can try that, but there's no money in it compared to the Canelo fight. Canelo is trying to fight other guys,” Garcia said.
Crawford's payday
Crawford obviously wants the Canelo fight for the money and that's the only reason. If it's about legacy, Crawford would first move up to 160 to fight the champs in that weight class, but he doesn't because none of them are stars.
No money for Crawford. He wants that and the Canelo fight will get him that payday. He should thank Turki Al-Sheikh for this because he is the one who made it possible. If it wasn't for him, Canelo wouldn't have bothered fighting Crawford.
“At this point, it's more of a big fight for the money it's going to generate,” Mikey said of the Canelo vs. Crawford clash. “But as a fight fan, I'm not a fan of this matchmaking. I'd rather see Canelo step up and fight Beterbiev or Bivol again. If he wanted to challenge himself, he went back to 175 and challenged these guys. No less a guy moving up (Crawford).”
Canelo likely won't move up to tp 175 again unless Dmitry Bivol can win the undisputed light heavyweight title in his rematch with Artur Beterbiev on February 22nd. If Bivolo wins this fight, Canelo may be interested in moving up in weight for a rematch because that would allow him to try to become the undisputed two-division champion.
Also, the money Canelo will get for this fight will be huge. There will be less backlash for Alvarez if he loses to Bivolo again because he's moving up in weight against a bigger guy. Since Bivol is a finesse fighter, Canelo has less to worry about fighting him than if Beterbiev wins on February 22nd.
Stay at 154
“It's the same with Crawford. He doesn't need to move up to fight Canelo. He can just fight guys at 154,” Mikey said.
Crawford would probably only be interested in fighting WBC and WBO junior middleweight champion Sebastian Fundora for his belts at 154 because it's a fight where he won't be so worried about getting knocked out. If Crawford faces IBF champion Bahram Murtazaliev or WBC interim champion Virgil Ortiz Jr, he could be stopped.
These guys are younger and more powerful than him. They would like to add the scalp of the soon-to-be 38-year-old Crawford to their collection. That would be a nice trophy.
