Both Terence Crawford and David Benavidez want the same man. However, Canelo Alvarez doesn’t want a fight with either of them. As difficult as that situation might be, Floyd Mayweather has offered a simple solution-  a fight between Crawford and Benavidez. A fight between these big names would be just as popular as a match against Canelo Alvarez.

If not that, Floyd even has a proposal for ‘Bud’ Crawford to fight Jaron Ennis. The undefeated boxing legend appeared in an interview with Fight Hype today when the reporter probed him with questions regarding the fighters. Having fought Canelo at the peak of his career, Floyd had answers for them all.

Legacy or Money, asks Floyd Mayweather

Speaking to Ben Thompson from Fight Hype, Mayweather proposed, “If [Crawford] wants to go to 168 and he wants to fight Canelo, [badly]. And Benavidez wants to fight Canelo [badly]. They can’t get Canelo. They can fight each other, Benavidez and Crawford.” Moreover, seeing Crawford unable to finalize a fight against Canelo or a rematch against Errol Spence Jr., Mayweather pointed at Ennis as a worthy opponent.

During the interview, Thompson stated that facing Jaron Ennis might not be as lucrative for Crawford. In response, Mayweather claimed he didn’t know what these fighters wanted. However, he stated, “I’m saying you got to ask yourself, is it about the legacy, is it about the money, is it about both?… If you do want to fight – fight. If you don’t fight him, fight somebody else.” But while Mayweather suggested Crawford and Benavidez find other opponents, a retired boxing legend had other ideas.

Former ‘Baddest Man on the Planet’ slams Canelo Alvarez

Not long ago, reports came out suggesting Canelo Alvarez had turned down a $60 million offer to fight David Benavidez. This, of course, didn’t sit well with Mike Tyson, who condemned the Mexican superstar in an interview with Marca. Tyson said, “What’s wrong with Canelo? Is he afraid of losing?”

Edgar Berlanga believes that a potential fight between Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Terence Crawford is a “mismatch”.

Both fighters’ next opponents are still to be confirmed – Alvarez is expected to fight on May 4; Crawford remains in contention for a rematch with Errol Spence – and speculation persists that Alvarez, the world’s highest-profile fighter, could fight Crawford, the world’s very best.

That Crawford’s victory over Spence, in July 2023, made him the undisputed welterweight champion is particularly relevant in the context of Alvarez being the undisputed champion at 168lbs. Crawford won his first world title at lightweight; in 2019 the considerably bigger Alvarez stopped Sergey Kovalev the win the WBO light-heavyweight title.

When Alvarez was, like Berlanga, promoted by Matchroom, Berlanga was in contention to be one of his future opponents, but on Saturday the American-Puerto Rican fights Padraig McCrory, 35, at the Caribe Orlando in Orlando, Florida, aware that even in the event of victory Crawford is considerably likelier to secure what was once so unimaginable a fight.

“It is a mismatch,” the 26-year-old Berlanga said. “It is a mismatch. I just think, mentally, Crawford has more will than [Alvarez’s previous opponent, Jermell] Charlo, and he has more skill. ‘Canelo’s’ just trying to overpower him with his strength, and obviously he’s just a much bigger fighter. So if he does go that way, it’s for the simple fact that Canelo’s the bigger man.

“I don’t doubt Crawford, because he’s one of the greatest in the world. He could probably pull it off [if he was big enough]. I know that his will’s strong. I just think that if he was a 168-pounder or Canelo was a 147-pounder, it’d have been a big difference.

“[Crawford’s] up there in the top three [fighters in the world]. Right now you’ve got Crawford; ‘Tank’s’ [Gervonta Davis] up there; and Canelo’s still doing crazy numbers and got all the titles at 168.

“It’s a money grab, too. There’s going to be a lot of money to be made. A two-time undisputed champion versus the undisputed 168 champion. You know what I’m saying? There’s going to be a lot of money involved in that fight. It’s going to be a big-money fight for both of them.”

After 64 fights Alvarez, 33, has been showing signs of decline. Another of his former promoters, Oscar De La Hoya, questioned in the aftermath of his victory in May 2023 over John Ryder the extent to which he was feeling the effects of a both long and successful career, but Alvarez recently spoke of his desire to continue fighting for another five years.

“I don’t think another five years,” said Berlanga, incidentally a board member of The Cristian Rivera Foundation. “I think he probably got like another two years. Maybe three. He already has done what he has to do in the sport of boxing. He’s going down as one of the greatest Mexican fighters to ever live. If he retires tomorrow, he’s going to go down in the Hall of Fame.

“You know what it is with Canelo right now? He’s at that stage – look at Canelo’s résumé. He’s fought a lot of great fighters already. He fought Triple G [Gennady Golovkin]; he fought [Miguel] Cotto; he fought [Shane] Mosley; he fought [Floyd] Mayweather. He fought hall-of-fame fighters and he kept moving up in weight and beating these guys [he lost to Mayweather in 2013].

“I wouldn’t say Canelo’s out the door soon – at the moment he’s the boss – and he’s on that Mayweather step right now. If he wants to fight a guy he can do that – you gotta respect that. He paid his dues, multiple times. He can do whatever he wants.

Terence Crawford and Canelo Alvarez are without any doubt two of the biggest names in the current boxing scenario. Both have boxers lined up for a chance to fight them. The P4P king and the only undisputed champion at super middleweight in boxing history were rumoured to face each other. However, it does not seem like fans will get to see a face-off anytime soon. Meanwhile, Chris Algieri has predicted Crawford’s retirement.

Proboxtv posted a clip of Algieri on their Instagram page where Algieri spoke about how Crawford’s retirement might play out. As he mentioned a possible fight with Alvarez, Frank Stallone, the Grammy-nominated artist and Sylvester Stallone’s brother responded with his predictions. Why does he think ‘Bud’ has a better chance? Let us take a look.

Is Terence Crawford retiring? Chris Algieri comments

Algieri believes Crawford would have one more fight before he announces retirement and it would be a big one. “I think that he’s gonna have probably one more big fight this year and I think that’s the last we’re gonna see of the great Terence Crawford. Most likely, he’s gonna retire undefeated. If he gets the Canelo fight, maybe not.” he said. Moreover, according to him, we will not see Crawford fight from next year onwards.

While Algieri might not be too confident of Crawford’s skills against Canelo, Stallone has no doubts about it. Though a younger Crawford might have suffered against Alvarez, the current one will not go down so easy. “He beats Canelo easy it’s called boxing and using angles speed and boxing IQ you can’t hit what you can’t see. Canelo in the 80’s would be a contender. I can name 4 basically unknown to the masses middleweights that would have beat him. Briscoe, Hart,Watts and Monroe. Philly warriors” said Stallone. While a fight with Crawford is not in the making, Alvarez is busy deciding his next opponent.

Jermall Charlo or Jaime Munguia?

The renowned Mexican boxer has been inactive since defeating Jermell Charlo by unanimous decision in September, marking another successful title defense in his career, following dominant victories over John Ryder and Gennadiy Golovkin. After a brief break, Alvarez has confirmed his comeback to the ring, scheduled for May 4 in Las Vegas, though he has yet to disclose his opponent. However, recent reports from ESPN Mexico suggest that Alvarez’s next challenger will either be Jaime Munguia or Jermall Charlo.

This revelation isn’t entirely unexpected, as there have been ongoing speculations linking Alvarez to both fighters in recent times. Moreover, in a recent interview, Alvarez mentioned that his next opponent wouldn’t be Mexican, which seemingly eliminates Munguia from consideration. However, despite this statement, Al Haymon’s PBC is reportedly offering a substantial sum of over $35 million to arrange the fight between Alvarez and Munguia.

Scores of fans are eagerly awaiting his return to the ring. However, there hasn’t been much development in finalizing the next opponents for unified welterweight champion Terence Crawford. So the question still remains at large.

Boxing Kingdom threw this poser early this morning: “Who do you want to see Terence Crawford fight next?” The Nebraskan southpaw last defeated Errol Spence Jr. on July 29 last year to become the first two-division undisputed champion among men. Ever since a series of names and propositions have cropped up. The world champion has quite a few alternates to go after. But what about the fans? Who would they prefer squaring up against Terence Crawford?

Terence Crawford and the Quest for a Worthy Rival

Later, in November, Terence Crawford saw his status change from undisputed champion to that of unified champion as the IBF decided to relinquish him of their belt. The measure followed ‘Bud’ not being able to fight Jaron Ennis, the IBF mandatory challenger.

Thus, as fans saw, the top echelons of the welterweight division witnessed significant fluctuations. It’s a different matter; they yielded no definitive outcomes. But when it comes to fans, they appear certain of a few prospects to be worthwhile.

And the popular demand goes to

For most, when asked, it was either Canelo Alvarez or Jaron ‘Boot’ Ennis. However, a few voiced out on checking the winner of the upcoming catchweight clash between Tim Tszyu and Keith Thurman.

Take, for instance, this user. Their first choice remains Canelo Alvarez, provided he defeats David Benavidez. Otherwise, the winner of the Thurman-Tszyu should equally do so.

Likewise, for this follower too, the winner of the Thurman-Tszyu fight is followed by ‘Boots’, after he’s done with some major fights, and then finally Canelo Alvarez.

Then, for this follower, Spence Jr. rematch ranked first. If not, then either a ‘Boot’s clash or face-off with Tim Tszyu at a higher weight worked as well.

Is Canelo Alvarez afraid of fighting another great fighter Terence Crawford? Well, after his dominating victory over Errol Spence Jr. in July last year, ‘Bud’ Crawford expressed he wanted to become a three-time undisputed champion in the sport. In this, regard, he suggested facing Canelo Alvarez at 158 lbs, a catchweight.

However, Canelo Alvarez remained averse to the idea of facing ‘Bud’, the champion at Welterweight. In his latest interview, while the boxing world waited for Canelo’s next opponent, the Mexican claimed he would be subjected to criticism if he faced Crawford. But, Keyshawn Davis strongly disagreed. Here is what he told FightHype.

Keyshawn Davis encourages Terence Crawford to keep chasing Canelo Alvarez

In his latest interview with Box Azteca, Canelo Alvarez said that if he potentially defeated Terence Crawford, people would criticize the Mexican boxer for facing a smaller fighter in the ring. “I have everything to lose and nothing to gain because if I win, they’ll say, ‘Oh, he was too small, and everything!” said Alvarez. As a result, the 33-year-old feels a match against ‘Bud’ Crawford is simply not worth it. However, Keyshawn Davis feels otherwise.

According to Keyshawn Davis, despite everyone expecting a sure win from Canelo, the Mexican fought several smaller fighters in the past. Therefore, Davis struggles to believe that Canelo would turn down ‘Bud’ simply because everyone thinks the Mexican has a better chance at winning. “Everybody knew he was going to beat Charlo, right? Right or wrong? He was going to beat Caleb Plant, right? Right or wrong? So, sounds like excuses to me,” said Davis.

“Okay, Canelo, you’re a hell of a fighter. But, I just feel like that was an excuse to not fight another great fighter,” added the 24-year-old who thinks Devin Haney will beat Ryan Garcia. However, the Olympic silver medalist encouraged Crawford to keep chasing the Canelo fight.

“I think ‘Bud’ should keep going for Canelo. That’s another fight that ya’ll would really wanna see that makes a lot of sense, great money for him on the back end of his career. For sure, do it,” he said enthusiastically. “Again, I respect Canelo. I truly do. Hell of a career, you know what I’m saying? All I’m saying is he just made up excuses to not fight another great fighter,” Keyshawn concluded. With that said, do you think Canelo Alvarez is making up excuses to avoid fighting Terence Crawford?

A fight between pound-for-pound superstars Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford seemed to have many obstacles preventing it from happening, and the Mexican has now ruled it out from ever happening.

Following Crawford’s one-sided stoppage win over Errol Spence last July to become undisputed welterweight champion, he shocked the boxing world by declaring his interest in stepping up three weight divisions to take on super-middleweight king Canelo.

While many doubted that it would be possible, Crawford maintains to this day that he would be interested in the fight, and is extremely confident that he would be victorious.

Any hopes of it materialising appear to be over for now though, after Canelo told Azteca TV that he has nothing to gain from taking the bout.

With a fight against Crawford now off the table, the wait goes on to find out who the Mexican will be taking on during his usual Cinco de Mayo showdown in May.

It was reported earlier this week that Jermall Charlo would be the man in the opposite corner, but he has responded by stating that he is yet to hold any talks with his advisor Al Haymon regarding the fight.

Canelo was victorious last time out against Jermall’s brother Jermell, defeating him by unanimous decision in September. That made it three straight wins since his defeat to Dmitry Bivol, having also overcome Gennady Golovkin and John Ryder in the last 18 months.