Why Terence Crawford Must Face Fighters Like Benavidez And Bivol Without External Subsidies To Justify His High Pay

Terence Crawford says he’s now the “Face of Boxing” following his razor-close 12-round unanimous decision win over Canelo Alvarez last weekend in Las Vegas.

With that title that he’s given himself, he’s likely going to want the kind of pay that Canelo (63-3-2, 39 KOs) has routinely been receiving in recent years.

For example, in his title defense of his undisputed super middleweight championship against Crawford last Saturday, the Mexcan star received a purse rumored to be $150 million. In contrast, Crawford is said to have gotten $50 million.

The question is, will Turki Alalshikh and or other promoters be willing to pay Crawford (42-0, 31 KOs) the kind of money Canelo has been receiving? Terence’s performance against Alvarez and his opponent before that, Israil Madrimov, was not exciting to watch.

It involved a lot of movement by Crawford and a few shots here and there. The only round of the fight where Crawford engaged to any extent was the ninth, and that was just briefly.

The undercard fighters, Christian Mbilli and Lester Martinez, were far more entertaining to watch in my view. They put it on the line. We didn’t see that from Crawford. So, to be the Face of Boxing, you have to entertain, and Crawford came well short of that mark against Canelo and Madrimov.

“Canelo is an all-time great. He’s the last one. There’s no more Canelo’s,” said Crawford to Ring Magazine. “When you look around, you say, ‘I’m the Canelo.’ I’m the Face of Boxing’ now. I’m the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, like I’ve always been.”

Is Crawford the Face of Boxing? Without Turki Alalshikh, I don’t believe Crawford would be making anywhere near the same kind of money he’s received in his last two fights on Turki’s cards. What promoter would overpay for Crawford to headline on PPV events that hemorrhage money when the revenue doesn’t match what he’s paid?

Without Turki, Crawford would have to take a lot more risks than he’s been by fighting the guys that his trainer, Brian ‘BoMac’ McIntyre, ruled out last Sunday as options for him to fight next, David Benavidez and Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis. Those are the types of fights Crawford would be forced to fight if he wanted to make money without Alalshikh subsidizing his career. These fighters:

Dmitry Bivol
David Benavidez
David Morrell

The movement that Crawford used against Canelo last Saturday wouldn’t be enough to play keep away from the above three fighters. I believe they would get to him often enough to get their pound of flesh.

Again, those would be the types of fighters that Crawford would need to face if Turki Alalshikh weren’t involved in his career, allowing him to fight guys like Madrimov and a fading Canelo instead of the riskier fights against younger fighters.

“All the time, they blocked me out, said I wouldn’t fight nobody. I can’t beat this dude. Every time I got a chance, I wiped the floor with them,” said Crawford at the post-fight press conference last Saturday.

“So, just imagine where I would be today if I had gotten those opportunities a long time ago,” said Crawford.

It sounds like Bud is playing the victim here, bitter for no reason, and not seeing the reality of his career. If Crawford wanted the opportunities for big fights, he should have moved up to 154, 160, or 168 earlier in his career when he was waiting for the matches that he wanted at 147. That was the only division that Crawford had to wait for fights.

Crawford wasn’t being stalled out at 135 or 140. There was no blocking being done on Crawford at lightweight and light welterweight. He fought against world champions Ricky Burns and Julius Indongo.

Crawford didn’t “wipe the floor with” Israil Madrimov, nor did he do that with Canelo Alvarez. Those weren’t one-sided fights. In both contests, Terence won by a pair of 115-113 scores and one oddball 116-112. They were very close fights involving a lot of movement from Crawford, who fought timidly much of the time due to the power advantages Madrimov and Canelo had over him.

For Crawford to have captured two undisputed championships at 140 and 147, he surely was given opportunities. He was put in place by his former promoters at Top Rank to fight for those world titles to become a four-belt champion at light welterweight and welterweight.

If Crawford were truly not given the chances for big fights, he would have been blocked from fighting for those belts.

The other thing is that the reason Crawford didn’t get the fights he wanted initially at 147, which is the only division that he was forced to wait for opportunities, is because he was with a different promoter.

Bud was with Top Rank, whereas the fighters he wanted to face, Shawn Porter, Jaron Ennis, Keith Thurman, and Danny Garcia, were with PBC. He wanted to fight Manny Pacquiao, but his focus was more on fighting more popular fighters with they were both with Top Rank. Crawford has never been a popular fighter with mainstream fans for two reasons:

Reserved personality: Crawford has never been a big talker who gets attention from boxing fans like other fighters who talk themselves into getting fans to want to see them fight.
Slick boxing style: Fans prefer to see brawlers that stand and trade with their opponents, not slick boxers that hit and run. Last Saturday’s performance by Crawford against Canelo Alvarez was a perfect example for why he’s never been must-see TV. Crawford spent much of the fight moving around the ring, not engaging, and trying not to get hit. In a word, it was boring, especially compared to the undercard fight between Christian Billi and Lester Martinez.