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 believes 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 look to unify against the other champions.
He thinks he probably won’t because there’s no money fighting the other junior middleweight belt holders compared to what he can make fighting Canelo. Mikey says the Canelo-Crawford fight is a “great fight” because of the “money” it will make, but not a great fight because of the size mismatch.
Mikey doubts Crawford
Crawford didn’t show much power against Madrimov and was uncomfortable eating his right hand.
“Canelo is fighting at 168. Crawford just moved up to 154, and he had some issues in that fight,” Mikey Garcia told Fight Hub TVexpressing his disapproval of Terence Crawford fighting three-belt unified super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez. “Now where do you plan to go?” At 164, 165 or 166? Canelos will not go down to 160. He will go down to 166 if he accepts.
“I think Canelo wins this fight purely based on his power and size. Skills-wise, I think Crawford is a more talented fighter, but the size difference will be the deciding factor. This is why I’m not a fan of this fight. I think Crawford accomplished everything he set out to accomplish.
“From 140 to 147, and now 154. It’s even great for him. If he wants to do something. Get the belts back at 154. He can attempt 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 to fight Canelo for the money, and that’s the only reason. If it was about legacy, Crawford would first move up to 160 to fight the champions in that weight class, but he doesn’t do that because none of them are stars.
Crawford has no money to get. He wants it, and fighting Canelo will provide him with that payday. He has Turki Al-Sheikh to thank for this, because he is the one who made this possible. Without him, Canelo wouldn’t bother fighting Crawford.
“At this point, it’s more of a big fight for the money it’s going to make,” Mikey said of the Canelo vs. Crawford matchup. “But as a fight fan, I’m not a fan of this matchmaking. I would rather see Canelo progress and fight Beterbiev or Bivol again. If he wanted to challenge himself, go back up to 175 and challenge these guys. Not a smaller guy coming up (Crawford).
Canelo likely won’t move up to 175 unless Dmitry Bivol can win the undisputed light heavyweight championship in his rematch with Artur Beterbiev on February 22. If Bivol wins this fight, Canelo might be interested in moving up in weight for a rematch, as it would allow him to try to become an undisputed two-division champion.
Plus, the money Canelo would get for this fight would be huge. There would be less backlash for Alvarez if he lost to Bivol again because he made weight against a bigger guy. With Bivol being a finesse level fighter, Canelo has less to worry about fighting him than if Beterbiev is victorious on February 22.
Stay at 154
“Same thing with Crawford. He doesn’t need to go 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, as that’s a fight in which he wouldn’t have to worry as much about be eliminated. If Crawford were to challenge IBF champion Bakhram Murtazaliev or WBC interim champion Vergil Ortiz Jr, he could be stopped.
These guys are younger and more powerful than him. They are reportedly looking to add the scalp of Crawford, soon to be 38, to their collection. It would be a nice trophy.
