Errol Spence Jr. favors Terence Crawford, who is trying to achieve greatness by moving up to 168 to challenge Canelo Alvarez for his title at super middleweight at some point in the future.
Crawford will be moving up 21 pounds from the last class he fought in at 147. He does plan on fighting at 154 next. So, he would only need to move up 14 lbs from there to fight Canelo, but that’s still a lot of weight, especially for an older fighter who rarely fights and hasn’t fought anyone at the Mexican star’s talent level.
Crawford’s Weight Jump: A Move for Greatness or Money?
However, this fight is more about money and celebrity than a sporting competition. If Crawford were serious, he would move up to super middleweight and get used to the division before fighting Canelo, but he just plans on going up for a one-off.
“If Crawford wants to challenge himself to be great, let him try to be great. I’m with it. I’d be going for Bud. I don’t know if he’d win or lose, but if anybody can pull it off, he can pull it off. He’s chasing greatness,” said Errol Spence to Fighthype when asked his thoughts about Terence Crawford potentially moving up to 168 to challenge Canelo Alvarez for his super middleweight titles.
“Canelo went up to 175 and fought Kovalev and the other guy [Dmitry Bivol], too. If he can do it, and he started at 147, if he can do it, why can’t Crawford do it?”
The former unified welterweight champion Spence, who lost to Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs) by ninth-round knockout last July, isn’t sure if he can beat Canelo (61-2-2, 39 KOs), but he’s backing him if he tries.
Crawford still has a hurdle to overcome before being considered for a fight against Canelo when he challenges WBA junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov on August 3rd at the BMO Stadium in Los Angeles.
If Crawford were a little younger and more active, you’d have to consider him an excellent chance of beating the 29-year-old Madrimov (10-0-1, 7 KOs). However, will be turning 37 on September 28th, and he’ll have been out of the ring for 13 months.
He’s been fighting on an annual basis since 2020, and none of his opposition has been on the level of Madrimov. The age, inactivity, and fighting in a new weight against a big puncher might be too much for Crawford.
