Trainer Barry Hunter is one of the many people that believe Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford can move up to 168 and unseat undisputed champion Canelo Alvarez.
Now, another thing is whether Canelo (59-2-2 39 KOs) is willing to give Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs) the chance to fight him without needing to earn the shot by fighting the top contenders to become his mandatory.
If Canelo insists that Crawford move up to 168 to fight his way to a title shot by beating David Benavidez, David Morrell Jr., Demetrius Andrade, and/or Caleb Plant, he may give up without even trying, viewing the task being too difficult to attempt.
It would be like Canelo asking Crawford to climb the K2 mountain, one of the deadliest, with a high failure rate. When you fail on that mountain, it can be for keeps.
But if Crawford wants a title shot, he should be willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to earn it by putting his hide on the line against Benavidez, Morrell, Plant, Dmitry Bivol & Andrade.
Given that Canelo would gain nothing from beating Crawford other than a big payday, it’s a fight that probably won’t happen unless Terence moves up to 168 to earn a fight by beating Morrell & Benavidez, the two best in the division.
Crawford wants to skip the line
Terence should show some ambition by moving up to 168 to earn the right to fight against Canelo instead of calling him out, looking for a handout, and wanting to skip to the front of the line ahead of fighters that have been waiting for their opportunity to fight Canelo for years.
Would it be fair to David Benavidez, David Morrell Jr, Demetrius Andrade & Caleb Plant for Crawford to skip in front of them to get a title shot against Canelo?
It’s already pathetic that Canelo is defending his 168-lb undisputed championship against 154-pounder Jermell Charlo. Should Canelo be allowed to continue in this direction to fight 147-pounder Crawford? If so, when does it stop?
Does Canelo end up fighting tiny 5’5″ lightweight Gervonta Davis next or super bantamweight Naoya Inoue? When do the super middleweights Morrell, Benavidez & Andrade get their chance?
Crawford can’t use his WBO 147-lb title to force a title shot against Canelo because his belt with that organization is at 168.
Unless Canelo is willing to give Crawford a free title shot based on his Errol Spence, his only high-level victory during his 15-year career, he has no other way to get that fight.
“I don’t know. I think he can handle it because when you look at Canelo, Canelo is a short guy too, and he’s just wide,” said coach Barry Hunter to Fight Hub TV about whether Terence Crawford could beat Canelo Alvarez at 168.
“If Crawford turned around and put on more muscle, you know, going into it and not to the point where it makes him slow, it’s hard to bet against that dude,” continued Hunter.
Crawford could give Canelo a run for his money if he were to bulk up and not lose speed in the process. Again, Canelo wouldn’t receive credit for beating Crawford because boxing fans would say that he fought a smaller guy that had never competed at 168, so it would be an empty victory for the Mexican star.
Gennadiy Goilovkin never received credit for stopping welterweight Kell Brook when he moved up to 160 to challenge him for his titles in 2016.
“We faced him with Shawn Porter, and we were leading in that fight. Then when BoMac told him what he told him, ‘Okay, no problem.’ He went out there and flipped the switch and did what he did,” said Hunter.
“Shawn spoke about this recently. They clinched one time. Shawn is a strong guy, low gravity, the nine. Terence kind of threw him off to the side and walked away and said, ‘Too small.’
“So he understands grappling and understands balance, and the whole nine. Think about it. Canelo wasn’t always that size, either. It’s hard to bet against this dude right now, and Canelo is one of the favorites as well. It would be very interesting to see, for sure,” said Hunter about a fight between Crawford and Canelo Alvarez.
“That’s one of the record-breaking fights. You asked me about Errol retiring. After Terence does what he does, and if he’s successful in doing it, what’s left? Time for him to walk away into the sunset. It could be. Unscathed. The man did something no one else has done in boxing other than Claressa Shields. That’s amazing,” said Hunter about Crawford.
“I would have liked to have seen Errol & Terence fight a couple of years earlier. I’ve been saying that for a while,” said Barry.
