Terence Crawford believes Saul ‘Canelo’ Álvarez has double standards when it comes to accepting challenges in the ring.
The undefeated welterweight recently beat Errol Spence Jr to become undisputed, and quickly looked for more legacy-defining contests. He landed on Canelo, who holds all four belts three weight classes up at super-middle.
The Mexican hasn’t ruled the fight out entirely, but says it’s not in his plans. He is also adamant that his days below 168lbs are over, meaning Crawford would not be met in the middle.
‘Bud’ has found an old clip from an interview in 2020 before Canelo’s fight with Callum Smith that he believes shows a contradiction. In it, Canelo is open the idea of fighting Spence at the middleweight limit of 160.
Since that interview, Canelo has settled further at super-middleweight, becoming undisputed by picking up the WBO belt from Billy Joe Saunders and the IBF from Caleb Plant.
He’s also three years older, and has had another move up to the light-heavyweight 175 limit thrown in. In short, it looks like his mind is made up about not going any lower.
Crawford says that’s not a problem, and wants the belts at super-middle. Some pundits have recently advised him against it given the one-sided win the Mexican lodged against Jermell Charlo recently – also a man moving up in weight.
