Get Ready for Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford

When Tim Tszyu got knocked around the ring on Saturday night and stopped in three rounds by defending IBF junior middleweight champion Bakhram Murtazaliev, there was a bit of a ripple that extended up to the super middleweight division.

It’s no secret that Terence Crawford, who captured the WBA and interim WBO junior middleweight titles in his debut fight at 154 this past August 3, has been pining away for a big-money blockbuster bout with unified 168 lb. champ Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.

It’s also no secret that Crawford has been focusing on the Mexican cash cow, apparently to the exclusion of all other options.

“I don’t think Crawford will fight anyone except Canelo…This is what I feel,” Crawford bankroller and Saudi point man Turki Alalshikh told UK reporter Charlie Parsons back in August. “We give him offer for (Vergil) Ortiz. I don’t know if he will take it or not.”

As of now, Crawford’s answer has been a resounding “not.”

The 37-year-old four-division world champ has also officially moved away from a mandated shot at WBO and WBC junior middleweight champ Sebastian Fundora.

The last big-fight option still potentially on the table for Crawford crumbled on Saturday when Tszyu got curb stomped by the IBF champ.

According to Fox Sports Australia, there had been “secret” talks between Team Crawford and Team Tszyu dating back to late 2023. Tszyu’s promoter George Rose of “No Limit Boxing” had even outlined his plans to re-engage with Crawford’s people after his fighter captured the IBF belt.

Obviously, that plan didn’t work out as expected.

And for those holding out some odd hope that Crawford will now move on to fight Tszyu conqueror Murtazaliev, good luck with that wishful thinking. If Jaron Ennis, Vergil Ortiz, and Sebastian Fundora weren’t big enough names for a nest egg-minded “Bud,” the Russian guy with zero bankablility probably won’t make the cut either.

So, unless Turki Alalshikh coughs up another big payday for a bout with another unknown, like he did for the Israil Madrimov bout, Crawford’s not fighting anyone not named Canelo (until Canelo no longer remains an option).

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Canelo-Crawford equation, Alvarez is inching towards a May 2025 date with very few big opponent options.

The Guadalajara native has shown the ability to sell a fight without an extraordinarily well-known or even competitively viable B-side. With pay-per-view sales in recent fights that have hovered consistently around the 500K-700K mark for true long-shot opposition, Canelo can sell a fight on his own.

But if he wants to get back into that rarefied air of around a million buys, he needs a B-side who will bring name value and/or real intrigue into the match-up.

David Benavidez would do that, but, yeah, that’s not happening.

So, then there’s Terence Crawford.

Crawford has flopped as a pay-per-view A-side, but he did help bring in a reported 700K buys as the B-side in his legacy win versus Errol Spence in 2023. Against Canelo, he may also be a salable presence, bringing in his reputation as a present tense pound-for-pound great with a known name and a “daring to be great” story. It also helps that he doesn’t have a reputation as a safety-first boxer willing to stink up a fight, like Jermell Charlo did when he moved up from junior middleweight to challenge Alvarez last year.

Back in February, Canelo dismissed the idea of fighting Crawford as a lose-lose proposition for, again, taking on a smaller fighter. Most recently, though, he’s kicked open that door a bit, answering Crawford questions with a more diplomatic “I’m not saying that fight can’t happen…” while taking a full step back from a public beef he had with Alalshikh over the summer.

Given recent happenings, Canelo-Crawford is not so far-fetched anymore. As a matter of fact, as things sit now, it may soon emerge as the favored option for both champions.