Terence Crawford (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
Terence Crawford has achieved an excessive amount of to be anything but transparent at this stage of his profession. When I spoke to him about his upcoming fight against Israil Madrimov, his friend Shakur Stevenson, and a possible rematch with Errol Spence Jr., Crawford seemed sincere.
That trend continued on Monday when he sat down with Ariel Helwani of The MMA Show and discussed a few of the same topics. One of the fundamental topics on Crawford’s mind was his next opponent after the August 3 fight with Madrimov.
Assuming he beats Madrimov – which most could also be assuming too quickly – many are calling for him to face IBF champion Jaron “Boots” Ennis.
The Philadelphia native scored an explosive TKO victory over David Avanesyan earlier this month, and he and his promoter Eddie Hearn have been difficult Crawford for six months.
Crawford has never presented himself because the kind of champion who avoids his opponents, but at 36, he has made it clear that he’s more fascinated with a fight with fellow future Hall of Famer Canelo Alvarez than a fight with the up-and-coming Ennis.
According to Crawford, a fight with Canelo would happen within the 168-pound class.
“I’m looking at the fight that makes the most sense right now, and that’s not Boots,” Crawford said. “Canelo is going to add a lot more to my legacy; a lot more to my bank account. What are we going to have at the end of the day when boxing is over? I want to have a legacy that people will talk about forever, and not only that, I want a bank account that lasts forever.”
You can watch your entire episode again here. Crawford’s Segment starts on the 2:03:00 mark of the video.
It’s hard to not respect and understand that answer. Crawford has done every thing you may do in the game of boxing to undoubtedly retire as a Hall of Famer.
Since he can still compete at a world-class level, he can still fight champions, but he is sensible enough to ensure all of his risks are calculated. If Crawford looks strong against Madrimov, he can be a favourite to beat Ennis.
However, it is also certainly one of those fights where a legendary champion can age overnight, a deterioration that always occurs when someone like Crawford fights an undefeated young star like Ennis.
Crawford would get a pleasant payday for defeating Ennis, but that is nothing in comparison with what he would make if he got the prospect to fight Canelo. One could argue that Crawford and Canelo are the 2 most well-known fighters of the post-Floyd and Mayweather era.
Crawford’s 40-0 record with 31 knockouts and championships in three different weight classes makes his record top-of-the-line within the history of the game. Aside from slip-ups against Mayweather and Dmitry Bivol, nobody has defeated Canelo.
Although each men are getting older, Crawford and Canelo are still considered elite, and it may very well be the most important conventional boxing match of all time. I select conventional because nobody can predict how big a fight between Jake Paul and Conor McGregor could develop into commercially.
As things stand, Crawford will face a troublesome test with Madrimov and we are going to see if his options have modified after this fight.
