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Roy Jones Jr Gives Clear Verdict On Canelo-Terence Crawford Fight: “He Understands Boxing”

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Terence Crawford wants to face undisputed super-middleweight champion Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez before he calls time on his campaign.

The 36-year-old from Omaha, Nebraska last fought to win all four belts at welterweight, so his calling out of the Mexican has been dismissed by some as too big of a jump in weight. Others believe he has the skills to pull it off.

Speaking to FightHype about the last time Canelo welcomed a fighter up the weight classes – the Jermell Charlo fight – multi-division champion Roy Jones Jr said he was highly impressed with the Mexican

The questions then turned to Crawford, who would be making a similar jump to Charlo if he gets the fight.

It won’t be Charlo he’s facing, but Crawford is following the pattern Jones would like to see. He fights WBA Super-Welterweight Champion Israil Madrimov on August 3, providing a good measuring stick for how he’d fare a further two divisions up.

Should he win, ‘Bud’ will either continue to push for the Canelo fight next or look to unify the titles in that division. The Mexican is out in September against Edgar Berlanga, but will be holding only three of the four belts by then.

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BOXING

Anthony Joshua could hand Tyson Fury world title lifeline if he loses to Oleksandr Usyk again, says Roy Jones Jr

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Anthony Joshua

Roy Jones Jr has told talkSPORT that Anthony Joshua may end up holding the key to Tyson Fury’s heavyweight return.

The Gypsy King was dethroned of his WBC crown by Oleksandr Usyk in May, and the Ukrainian emerged from their battle as undisputed WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO heavyweight world champion.

Usyk has since vacated his IBF belt, but will defend the WBA, WBC and WBO in his rematch with Fury, which is planned for December 21.

Meanwhile, that vacated IBF strap now belongs to Daniel Dubois.

When he beat Usyk’s mandatory challenger Filip Hrgovic in June, Dubois claimed the IBF ‘interim’ belt, and so was upgraded to become the full champion after the Ukrainian gave it up.

Dubois will now be defending his IBF heavyweight world title against Joshua on September 21.

“I think Joshua is gonna be the favourite because of his past,” Jones Jr told talkSPORT Drive when asked about that fight.

“He just had a great fight with Francis Ngannou, but Ngannou is not Daniel Dubois.

“So it’s gonna be interesting for a few rounds, but if Joshua goes out and it’s the Joshua we wanna see, I think he’ll be dominant and be victorious.

“If he takes Dubois lightly though, it could be an upset.”

As Jones Jr rightly pointed out, AJ is indeed the favourite in that fight.

Likewise, Usyk is the favourite to defeat Fury again on December 21.

Asked if he believes Fury will become champion again, Jones Jr replied: “I don’t know because here’s the thing.

“I feel like if Joshua wins the title and if Usyk is able to beat Fury again, then the next fight I think people in the UK will wanna see will be Fury vs Joshua for Joshua’s title.

“And that’s a 50/50 fight to me. A real pick ’em.”

In this scenario, AJ would be the defending IBF world champion and offering Fury a lifeline to resurrect his career.

Time will tell how things play out in the fascinating heavyweight landscape.

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BOXING

Roy Jones Jr Names The Man Who Could Take Over Terence Crawford As Pound-For-Pound Number One

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Roy Jones Jr was named the Ring Magazine Fighter of the Year in 1994 and few fans would disagree.

The only man to kick off his pro campaign at super-welterweight and go on to win a heavyweight title, Jones is in the history books as a dominating force in the ring. So, who does he think the best of the current crop is?

Speaking in an interview with All The Smoke Fight, Jones paid Naoya Inoue his dues but said his ranking in the pound-for-pound list suffered because of a lack of opposition.

Inoue is 27-0 with 24 knockouts – an incredible achievement for the lower weight classes – and regularly captivates Japanese audiences with his thrilling style. He has held titles in four divisions.

Jones believes Terence Crawford remains as number one simply due to his dominant victory over Errol Spence Jr, but believes skill-for-skill ‘The Japanese Monster’ should probably take it.

Crawford became four-belt champion at 147 with that win over Spence, the first male fighter to achieve all the belts in two different weight classes. Inoue followed shortly after before Oleksandr Usyk joined the club.

Inoue is next out against TJ Doheny on September 3 in Japan to defend his undisputed super-bantamweight title.‘Bud’ is up first, making his super-welterweight debut against WBA Champion Israil Madrimov on August 3 in an attempt to become a four-division world champion.

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