Former multi-division world champion Mikey Garcia says he is not a fan of Terence Crawford who is moving up two weight classes to challenge Canelo Alvarez for all three super middleweight belts.
Mikey feels it is too difficult for Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) to fight the heavier and stronger Canelo (62-2-2, 39 KOs) after he had trouble in his recent move to 154 against Israel Madrimov last August. He believes Crawford should stay at 154 and is looking to consolidate against the other champions.
He thinks he probably won't because there's no money fighting other belt holders at junior middleweight compared to what he could get fighting Canelo. Mikey says the Canelo-Crawford bout is a “big fight” because of the “money” it would bring, but not a great fight because of the size mismatch.
Mickey is suspicious of Crawford
Crawford didn't show much power against Madrimov and was uncomfortable with his right hands eating away at him.
“Canelo is fighting at 168. Crawford just moved up to 154, and he had some problems in this fight,” Mikey Garcia said. Combat Center TVexpressing his disapproval of Terence Crawford fighting three-belt unified middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez. “Now, where do you plan to go? To 164, 165 or 166? Kanelos won't go down to 160. He'll go down to 166 if he accepts.
“I think Canelo wins this fight based on strength and size alone. Skill-wise, I think Crawford is a more skilled fighter, but the difference in size is going to be the deciding factor. That's why I'm not a fan of that fight. I think Crawford accomplished everything he was He has to achieve it.
“From 140 to 147, and now 154. And that's great for him. If he wants to do something. Collect the belts at 154. He can try, but there's no money in it compared to fighting Canelo. Canelo is trying to fight other guys,” Garcia said. “.
Crawford's payday
Crawford clearly wants to fight Canelo for money, and that's the only reason. If it were about legacy, Crawford would first move up to 160 to fight the champions in that weight class, but he doesn't because none of them are stars.
There's no money for Crawford to make. He wants it, and a Canelo fight would provide him that payday. He has Turki Al-Sheikh to thank for that because he was the one who made it possible. If it weren't for that, Canelo wouldn't have been interested in fighting Crawford.
“At this point, it's more of a big fight for the money it's going to bring in,” Mikey said of Canelo vs. Crawford. “But as a fight fan, I'm not a fan of matchmaking. I'd rather see Canelo step up and fight Beterbiev or Bivol again. If he wants to challenge himself, go up to No. 175 again and challenge those guys. It's not a smaller guy stepping up (Crawford). “
Canelo likely won't move up to 175 again unless Dmitry Bivol can win the undisputed light heavyweight championship in a rematch with Artur Beterbiev on February 22. If Bivol wins that fight, Canelo may be interested in making weight in a rematch as it would allow him to try to become the undisputed champion of the two divisions.
Also, the money that Canelo will receive for this fight will be huge. There will be less backlash for Alvarez if he loses to Bivol again because he moves up in weight against a bigger man. With Bivol being a finesse-level fighter, Canelo is less worried about fighting him than he would be if Beterbiev were victorious on February 22.
Stay at 154
“Same with Crawford. He doesn’t need to move to fight Canelo. He can only fight 154-year-old guys,” Mikey said.
Crawford is likely only 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 have to worry too much about disqualification. If Crawford were to challenge IBF champion Bakhram Murtazaliev or WBC interim champion Virgil Ortiz Jr., he could be stopped.
These guys are younger and stronger than him. They are looking to add the soon-to-be-38-year-old Crawford's scalp to their collection. That would be a beautiful trophy.
