Terence Crawford’s Delusional Claim: Canelo Fight ‘Biggest In Boxing History,’ Ignoring Lack Of PPV Appeal And Benavidez Rivalry

Terence Crawford says his fight against Canelo Alvarez at 168 is “the biggest fight in boxing,” bigger than a match involving ‘The Mexican Monster’ David Benavidez facing Alvarez.

(Credit: Melanie Pizano/Matchroom)

Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) states that anytime you get an African American fighter facing a Mexican, it’s “always the biggest fight in history.” To reinforce his view, Bud points out that the 1993 fight between Julio Cesar Chavez and Pernell Whitaker 32 years ago was a huge one. Using that as an example doesn’t fit. Whitaker and Chavez were both popular. Crawford can’t draw flies, and this fight wouldn’t he happening if not for Riyadh Season.

The real problem with Terence’s argument about his fight with Canelo being the “biggest” in the sport, bigger than one involving Benavidez, is that he’s NOT a popular fighter with casual boxing fans. Crawford is only popular with a segment of hardcore fans, and he’s only had one successful PPV fight in his entire 17-year career. That was against Errol Spence.

He’s the one who brought in all the PPV buys for that fight, not Crawford. The event was successful despite Terence’s drag. Today’s average casual boxing fan wouldn’t be able to pick Crawford out of a lineup. To them, he’s just an old guy with a receding hairline. Canelo is the star here. I’ll never know what Turki sees in Crawford.

Crawford’s PPV History

Israil Madrimov: 200K on DAZN
Errol Spence: 700K Showtime
David Avanesyan: 120K on BLK Prime
Shawn Porter: 190K on ESPN
Amir Khan: 200K on ESPN
Viktor Postol: 60K on HBO

If Canelo had the courage to fight Benavidez, that fight would have happened centuries ago, and it would be over and done with by now. I think Benavidez would have trounced Canelo and taken over the top spot as the face of boxing. Canelo has artificially kept himself at the top spot by swerving Benavidez.

“I look at history. This is a legacy fight, and it’s the biggest fight in boxing right now,” said Terence Crawford to Pound 4 Pound with Kamaru YouTube channel and Henry about his fight against Canelo Alvarez on September 13th. “A lot of people might say, ‘We want to see Benavidez and Canelo.”

Crawford sounds deluded and desperate to make his fight against Canelo seem more than what it is – a pathetic money grab to trick gullible fans out of their dough. If this was about legacy, Crawford would have moved up to 168 and put his soft hide on the line against Benavidez, David Morrell, and Osleys Iglesias to get it chopped off. This is just about money, and it’s so painfully obvious that even your average halfwit can see the truth.

Fan Disconnect

“As a boxing fan, it would be a fight to see, but to be real, Canelo vs. Terence Crawford is the biggest fight in boxing today. There’s no bigger fight out there that’s bigger than Canelo-Crawford. 100%,” said Bud when asked if his fight against Alvarez would be bigger than Canelo vs. David Benavidez.

If Crawford was a PPV star, his last fight against Israil Madrimov wouldn’t have flopped, bringing in a dismal 200,000 buys on DAZN despite having a loaded undercard. Fans don’t care about Crawford.

“African American-Mexican, they always make for the biggest fights in history, going way back to Pernell Whitaker-Chavez [on September 10, 1993],” said Crawford. “It’s going to be electrifying. I can go easily fight Vergil Ortiz, Fundora, or whoever to make a quick buck, but I’m looking at the bigger picture.

“This is a legacy fight, a generational fight that will be talked about for years. When I’m gone, they’ll talk about, ‘Man, do you remember when Crawford came up to 168 to fight Canelo, two top pound-for-pound fighters in the world in their prime, fighting each other.’”