His Excellency Turki Alalshkikh states he will make an offer to Canelo Alvarez for him to fight Terence Crawford. Alalshkikh wants to deliver Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs) a big fight and says he will give Canelo a “fair price.”
The bit about the “fair prize” doesn’t sound promising. Canelo is aware that faded heavyweight Tyson Fury got a $100 million+ payday for his match against Oleksandr Usyk last May in Saudi Arabia, and he’s expected to get an even bigger purse in their rematch on December 21st.
Fury looked like a fat mess, losing to Usyk last May and deserving not even a fraction of the money he was paid. If Fury is getting that kind of dough looking as woeful as he is, Canelo should get double in the $200 million range.
This isn’t a fight that Canelo is interested in, and you can see why. Fighting a 37-year-old welterweight, who will be moving up two weight divisions after one fight at 154, doesn’t further Canelo’s legacy.
“I will give Canelo what I think is a fair price. If he accepts it, he deals directly with me to finish the deal,” said Turki to ESPN. “I don’t want anyone in the middle. I guaranteed Crawford a big fight, I want Canelo for Crawford and Crawford wants Canelo. But if Canelo is crazy [with his financial demands] I will still guarantee Crawford any fight he wants.”
Crawford wants the fight for a payday, help cushion his retirement, and pray that he gets lucky with an upset win. No matter how the fight ends, Crawford comes out ahead, while Canelo gets nothing but money.
If Turki is willing to give Canelo $100 million+, like Fury is getting for his match against Usyk, that might interest him. Canelo could ask for $200 million, which is a number that would be unreachable.
The Canelo-Crawford fight isn’t going to interest casual boxing fans because they’re not familiar with Crawford. Unlike other fighters, he’s done zero to promote himself during his career.
Crawford has had only one successful PPV fight during his 16-year career against Errol Spence, and the reason that one did well was because of Spence’s popularity. Crawford hitched along for the ride and wasn’t much help in the promotion.
Turki assumes that Crawford will be victorious in his next fight against WBA Junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov next Saturday, August 3rd and that WBA/WBC/WBO 168-lb champ Canelo will successfully defend against Edgar Berlanga on September 14th.
Crawford or Canelo could lose their next fights, as they’re not young anymore and are facing dangerous fighters with a lot of punching power.
Turki hasn’t said whether he’ll still proceed with his plans to make a Canelo-Crawford fight even if one of them loses. That would diminish the fight if they’re coming off losses. There wouldn’t be much interest in a Berlanga vs. Madrimov fight in early 2025, but that might be what we’re looking at.
Alalshikh doesn’t hint at what “big fight” he will “guarantee” Crawford if he can’t get him his dream payday against Canelo. Crawford isn’t ambitious enough to go up to 175 and fight one of the killers in that division, and there’s where the popular fighters are that fans would be interested in seeing him fight.
Crawford isn’t interested in fighting Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis because, according to him, he brings nothing to the table financially and legacy-wise. There isn’t anyone at 154 who is more popular than Boots Ennis, so Crawford will look weak if he chooses to fight one of them.
If Turki can’t get Canelo, Crawford’s options for a big fight are limited, and he may have to settle for a safe choice against Sebastian Fundora if he doesn’t want to risk his hide by going up to 175 to fight Artur Beterbiev, David Benavidez or Dmitry Bivol.