Terence Crawford could still have his biggest fight ahead of him.
Forty fights into his undefeated boxing career, Crawford doesn’t have much left to prove. This Saturday at a Riyadh Season event in Los Angeles, he moves up to the super welterweight division to fight Israil Madrimov for a vacant WBA title — and after that, he may just move up a couple more weight classes for the right opponent.
That opponent? The great Canelo Alvarez.
During an appearance on The MMA Hour, Crawford was asked what weight class he’d be willing to take on the larger Canelo at, and he didn’t hesitate to give a number.
“One hundred sixty-eight [pounds],” Crawford said. “If that’s the fight in front of me, then yes.”
Crawford, 36, has spent the majority of his career competing anywhere from 135 to 147 pounds, capturing titles in three divisions along the way, and he targets another with his move to 154 pounds against Madrimov. Jumping up to 168 pounds for a bout with Canelo, 34, would be the heaviest Crawford has ever weighed for a fight, by far.
Undefeated welterweight Jaron “Boots” Ennis also looms as a potential opponent after recently defeating David Avanesyan to retain his IBF title, which was promoted from interim status due to Crawford (since stripped of his share of the IBF title) being expected to rematch Errol Spence Jr. at some point in the future rather than face Ennis.
Unfortunately for Ennis, Crawford would prefer a matchup with Canelo, with the understanding that it would likely require the involvement of Riyadh Season promoter Turki Alalshikh.
“Being where I’m at right now, I’m looking at the fight that makes the most sense. and that’s not ‘Boots,’” Crawford said. “Canelo’s going to bring way more to my legacy, way more to my bank account, because at the end of the day when boxing is done with, what will we have? I want to have a legacy that’s something that people talk about for the ages, and not only that, I want to have a bank account that lasts as well.”
“I think it would be everybody’s choice. Canelo would have to agree, I would have to agree, Turki would have to agree because he’s the one that’s dishing out the money, so a lot of moving parts got to be involved in that fight.”
As for Spence, who Crawford defeated by ninth-round TKO in July 2023, Crawford is still waiting for the call to make their rematch official.
“I didn’t hear anything from Team Spence or his handlers after the fight, so everything just kind of went cold turkey,” Crawford said.
