It is yet to be confirmed whether Saul “Canelo” Alvarez is pursuing the riches in Saudi Arabia and furthering his career towards a showdown with fellow four-division and potential unbeaten champion Terence Crawford.
But the idea alone prompted a series of strong opinions on Probox TV's “Deep Waters” on Wednesday.
The day after Boxing Scene reported that boxing officials were planning to have Alvarez (61-2-2, 39 KOs) vacate his IBF super middleweight belt in exchange for a match against Cuba's disregarded William Scurll, discussion shifted to the possibility that current welterweight champion Crawford could be a target.
” [other] Approval Authority [WBC] Make it mandatory, [David] “Benavidez either fights or plays this fantasy fight,” said sarcastically analyst Paulie Malignaggi, who has long chided Alvarez for his hesitation to face Benavidez, the unbeaten former super middleweight champion from Phoenix and his most talented opponent.
Malignaggi called it one of the rare “drawbacks” to welcoming Turki Alarcik into the boxing world and said it could “disrupt” the development of the boxing world and those weight classes as Crawford (40-0) prepares for a WBA junior middleweight title bout against champion Israil Madrimov in his 154-pound debut on Aug. 3 in Los Angeles.
“It's a little too easy for a guy with all this money to do these fights,” Malignaggi said. “If this was the '80s, we'd have Tyson versus Sugar Ray Leonard.”
Panelist Chris Algieri, a former 140-pound world titleholder, agreed that Alarczyk should choose to invest in a better fight.
“If you want to put money into the fight, [Benavidez] “I don't need to do some fantasy super fight,” Algieri said. [when] “There are still good fights out there for Terence Crawford,” Crawford said, including a talented 154-pound field that includes two-time champion Sebastian Fandora, former champion Tim Tsiu and Tsiu's Aug. 3 opponent, Vergil Ortiz Jr. (21-0, 21 KOs).
“Stars aren't made this way,” Malignaggi said.
Bradley rejected his colleagues' opinions, saying Crawford, a talented fighter who has long been a member of the pound-for-pound elite, had been plotting the Canelo fight for a “very long time.”
“I realized [Crawford’s] “When Terence sees something, you have to take note. Am I worried about Crawford? A little bit, but I'm not going to say I don't want to see the fight. This is Terence wanting to be great. Terence wants to be great. This is how he can be No. 1 pound-for-pound,” Bradley said.
“I love fighting. You'd be surprised.”
Still, Algieri said he doubts an athlete like Alvarez would allow him to fight Crawford, who Alvarez has previously said was a “no-win” scenario because he either beat someone three weight classes below him last year or lost to someone who was naturally lighter.
“If Canelo takes this fight, I will vacate all my belts,” Algieri said.
