Coach Bernie Tha Boxer has confirmed that Terence Crawford vs. Canelo Alvarez is “on for September 13th.”
Bernie says Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) has earned the fight against unified super middleweight champion Canelo (62-2-2, 39 KOs) with what he’s accomplished, and he doesn’t need to move up to 168 to beat any of the contenders to prove himself. What he did from 135 to 154 is enough.
Canelo-Crawford Confirmed
Bernie says Crawford’s name will come first before Canelo’s for the September 13th fight. That’s hard to believe, obviously. It sounds like a hustle from Crawford and his team, but if Turki Al-Sheikh is willing to pay for the 38-year-old Bud to go up two weight classes to fight Canelo, that’s what he wants. Depending on what the purses are for Canelo and Crawford, it might turn a profit. I don’t think it will if the PPV price is low.
Canelo will be the one bringing in fans because Crawford isn’t a pay-per-view draw. Even with his fight against Ismael Madrimov with an undercard loaded with great fights last August, it didn’t bring in many buys.
“Super fight, mega-fight. Why would he need to do that after all he accomplished and all he’s shown in the ring? Why would he do that?” said coach Bernie Tha Boxer to Fighthype, reacting to criticism from fans, who feel that Terence Crawford should prove himself at 168 to show he deserves a fight against unified super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez.
“The things he done have hardly been done before. Two-time undisputed, unified champion in three weights but [won] four [divisions]. He’s been on the pound-for-pound list for better than 10 years. What more can you ask for? We didn’t get the Pacquiao fight or Mayweather or anyone of that caliber. This is the fight,” said Bernie.
Crawford didn’t fight great opposition to become a two-division undisputed champion. He was like another Adrien Broner, winning four division world titles against marginal opposition. Terence NEVER beat great fighters to win any of his titles in any weight division. He was maneuvered well to avoid him getting beaten.
Fighters Crawford Beat for Two-time Undisputed
Welterweight (147)
- Errol Spence: won IBF, WBA and WBC
- Jeff Horn: Won WBO
Light welterweight (140)
- Thomas Dulorme: won WBO
- Viktor Postol: won WBC
- Julius Indondo: won IBF & WBA
Size Doesn’t Matter
“The guy [Canelo] is bigger, and has a lot of experience. He’s young. Canelo is 34 or 35, something like that. Nothing ever comes easy to us. We never got Pacquiao or a guy our size with a global impact that he has. They made sure they stayed away from us. It’s not different,” said Bernie.
You can argue that Crawford is dodging fighters of his own late in his career the same way Pacquiao did when he was 37 or 38 and showed no interest in fighting him. Crawford isn’t rushing to fight Jaron Ennis, Bakhram Murtazaliev, Vergil Ortiz, or Serhii Bohachuk. He’s doing the same thing Pacquiao was late in his career, picking & choosing.
“We take on tough challengers, and we beat them. So, they give us Canelo Alvarez, a hard puncher an IQ of just the same caliber and a legend. That’s the only challenges Crawford looked for, and it was only right. We deserved this challenge to be on the big stage in a mega-fight in a super fight in what we call a David vs. Goliath battle.
“Again, we have a lot of disadvantages in this fight as far as weight, as far as power, and a lot of things on par as far as accomplishments and skills-set. We will climb that mountain. It’s on, baby. September 13th, look forward to it. Crawford vs. Canelo. As I said, Crawford vs. Canelo. Yeah, it’s confirmed. Crawford vs. Canelo, not the other way around.
“Team Crawford stands up. Pound-for-pound, the best in the world. Soon to be the super middleweight champion of the world,” said Bernie.
