Trainer Bernie Tha Boxer has confirmed that Terence Crawford vs. Canelo Alvarez is “for September 13.”
Bernie says Crawford (41-0, 31 KO) deserved the fight against unified super middleweight champion Canelo (62-2-2, 39 KO) with what he accomplished, and that he didn’t no need to go up to 168 to beat one. pretenders to prove themselves. What he did from 135 to 154 is enough.
Canelo-Crawford confirmed
Bernie says Crawford’s name will come first before Canelo’s for the September 13 fight. This is obviously hard to believe. It looks like a commotion of Crawford and his team, but if Turki Al-Sheikh is willing to pay for Bud, 38, to move up two weight classes to fight Canelo, that’s what he wants. Depending on Canelo and Crawford’s purses, this could turn a profit. I don’t think that will be the case if the PPV price is low.
Canelo will be the one to attract the fans because Crawford is not a pay-per-view draw. Even with his fight against Ismael Madrimov having an undercard loaded with big fights last August, he didn’t bring in many buys.
“Super fight, mega fight. Why would he need to do that after everything he’s accomplished and everything he’s shown in the ring? Why would he do that? said trainer Bernie Tha Boxer at Combathypereacting to criticism from fans, who believe Terence Crawford should prove himself at 168 to show he deserves a fight against unified super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez.
“The things he did have rarely been done before. Double unified and undisputed champion in three weights but [won] four [divisions]. He has been on the pound-for-pound list for over 10 years. What more could you ask for? We didn’t get the fight against Pacquiao, or against Mayweather, or against anyone of that caliber. That’s the fight,” Bernie said.
Crawford didn’t fight much opposition to become an undisputed two-division champion. He was like another Adrien Broner, winning four divisional world titles against marginal opposition. Terence has NEVER beaten any great fighters to win any of his titles in any weight class. He was handled well to avoid getting beaten.
Crawford fighters beaten twice undisputed
Welterweight (147)
- Errol Spence: won the IBF, WBA and WBC
- Jeff Horn: won the WBO
Light welterweight (140)
- Thomas Dulorme: WBO winner
- Viktor Postol: won the WBC
- Julius Indondo: won the IBF and WBA
Size doesn’t matter
“The guy [Canelo] is bigger and has a lot of experience. He is young. Canelo is 34 or 35, something like that. Nothing is ever easy for us. We’ve never had Pacquiao or a guy our size with the global impact he has. They made sure to stay away from us. This is no different,” Bernie said.
You can argue that Crawford is avoiding his own fighters late in his career the same way Pacquiao did when he was 37 or 38 and showed no interest in fighting him. Crawford is not rushing to fight Jaron Ennis, Bakhram Murtazaliev, Vergil Ortiz or Serhii Bohachuk. He’s doing the same thing Pacquiao was doing at the end of his career, picking and choosing.
“We face tough challengers and we beat them. So they give us Canelo Alvarez, a hard puncher, an IQ of the same caliber and a legend. This is the only challenge Crawford was looking for, and it was completely normal. We deserve this challenge to be on the big stage in a mega-fight in a super fight in what we call a David versus Goliath battle.
“Again, we have a lot of disadvantages in this fight in terms of weight, power, and a lot of comparable things in terms of achievements and skills. We will climb this mountain. Here we go, baby. September 13th, look forward to it. Crawford vs. Canelo. Like I said, Crawford vs. Canelo. Yes, it’s confirmed. Crawford versus Canelo, not the other way around.
“Team Crawford rises. Pound for pound, the best in the world. He will soon be the world super middleweight champion,” Bernie said.
