Who can give the 2-division undisputed champion Terence Crawford a legacy-defining big-money fight? At thirty-six, Terence Crawford is looking for a bout that would set him up nicely for retirement. Now, Crawford only has his eyes on one man: the undisputed super-middleweight champion Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez. “Canelo is going to bring way more to my legacy; way more to my bank account. At the end of the day, when boxing is done with, what will we have? I wanna have a legacy that people talk about for ages, and not only that, I want a bank account that will last for ages,” the former undisputed welterweight champion told Ariel Helwani.

Crawford is gradually working to reduce the weight gap between himself and Canelo. On August 3, at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles, the Nebraska native will move up to Light Middleweight to challenge WBA champion Israil Madrimov for the title as part of the massive Matchroom Boxing event. Depending on the outcome of the Madrimov fight, Crawford will go to great lengths to entice Canelo into a bout, potentially next year. Most boxing experts have high confidence in Crawford’s chances of defeating the current face of boxing. Keyshawn Davis, a silver medalist at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and an emerging star in the Lightweight division is also backing Terence Crawford to pull off an upset win against the super-middleweight kingpin, Canelo Alvarez.

Keyshawn Davis believes Terence Crawford’s IQ can prevail over Canelo’s size advantage

While in a conversation with Fight Hype TV, the 25-year-old was asked about the outcome of a potential showdown between Terence Crawford and Canelo Alvarez. Without hesitation, the Olympian chose Crawford to do a number on the Mexican if they were to fight it out in the ring. On top of that, he didn’t rule out Crawford’s chance of even knocking out ‘Cinnamon’. “Size don’t mean everything in a fight… I think he can knock out Canelo. Yes. For sure. If he does that, that would be crazy. This guy is a young, hungry lion. This guy not coming here just to lay down. He really fights. This guy got real IQ,” Davis said.

‘The Businessman’s’ opinion differs from those who feel that weight would play a significant part in Terence’s downfall against Canelo. The Mexican boxer, who will not be budging from his natural weight class, is being touted to inflict serious damage since Canelo is much more attuned to fighting at 168 than Crawford. But, Davis feels that Crawford’s superior boxing IQ will reign supreme.

Doubling down on his prediction, the twenty-five-year-old boxer further remarked, “Terence about to outbox him like he got to do. Terence about to knock him out like he got to. Whatever, he gotta do to get the win, it’s gonna be crazy. This matchup is just crazy to even get into.” 

Interestingly, Crawford has a higher KO rate than Canelo at 77.5%, ending 31 of his 40 fights via knockout. Meanwhile, Canelo’s KO percentage stands at 63.93%, with him preferring to go the distance with his last four opponents.

Reportedly, Canelo will be going up against the 27-year-old undefeated boxer Edgar Berlanga on September 14 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, according to ESPN’s Mike Coppinger. Berlanga has never fought a world title fight. Right now, it seems Canelo is looking for easy fights that wouldn’t mess up his impressive boxing record. At the tail end of his career, Canelo will be demanding a humungous sum of money to enter into the ring against elite competitors like Terence Crawford or even David Benavidez.

Meanwhile, Canelo’s former promoter Eddie Hearn revealed why the Mexican legend wouldn’t be willing to take up the Crawford fight.

Too much of a gap for Canelo!

In an interview with talkSPORT in May, Eddie Hearn said Alvarez is likely to turn down the Crawford fight due to the gulf in weight classes between the two fighters. He further stated that Canelo is more likely to fight someone close to his weight class, at a hefty price of course! Does Canelo’s $200 million price tag set on the Benavidez fight ring a bell?

“When I met Saul, he wasn’t crazy on that [Crawford] fight. He just felt that you have got a welterweight coming up to light-middleweight, going up to super-middleweight and that he wouldn’t get any credit for that win. I think that he would pick Benavidez over Crawford because he knows he would get the credit for that victory, whereas he might not for fighting a guy that is three or four divisions lower,” Hearn asserted.

Notably, Canelo started his career at light welterweight and slowly made his way up to light-heavyweight. So, for Terence Crawford to make that leap in weight classes isn’t an unimaginable task. But, Canelo’s comfortability in the super-middleweight division cannot be factored out. After all, a sudden jump from 147 to 168 for Crawford could affect his mobility and the quickness of throwing punches.

Nonetheless, who do you think Crawford should fight if he doesn’t get to trade blows with Canelo? Let us know in the comment section below.