Crawford's campaign to fight Canelo gains momentum

Terence Crawford is trying to prove he deserves a fight against superstar Canelo Alvarez in December or January. Crawford is on the campaign trail trying to get the Canelo fight, but he will have to hit the brakes.

His Excellency Turki Alalshih reportedly wants to schedule a fight between Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs) and undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo (61-2-2, 39 KOs) for later this year or early 2025.

Step 1: Win the real battle

Crawford still has to win his fight against WBA junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov on August 3 before he can be considered for a fight with Canelo. This will be Crawford's first truly risky fight since his 2014 match against Yuriorkis Gamboa.

The Mexican star will fight in September, possibly against Edgar Berlanga or Jermall Charlo. There is no way to know if Canelo will win these fights. Berlanga is similar in size to a light heavyweight and can punch.

Jermall Charlo was one of the top middleweights before he took a three-year hiatus. If he can regain his previous form, he could upset Canelo.

Both fighters have fights that could prevent them from meeting anytime soon, and they also have issues with trying to negotiate.

If Crawford drags out negotiations for a whole year, as we saw in the fight with Errol Spence, nothing will work out with Canelo. He'll move on rather than waste time trying to bargain with Crawford on the B-side.

Pound for pound… Maybe not

“You have two of the best fighters of this decade, not just the last year or so. You have two fighters who have been at the top for the last ten years,” Terence Crawford told ESPN, referring to him and Canelo Alvarez.

“You have the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world and the No. 1 money guy.”

Some boxing fans are as convinced of his pound-for-pound status as they are of aliens living on Mars.

This is a subjective thing, but many fans believe that Crawford is too inactive to be considered a top player.

When you only fight once a year like Crawford, and your last four opponents have been nothing special due to age, ring wear, inactivity and car accidents, it's hard to view him as the No. 1 fighter in the weight class.

Crawford's last six fights:

– Errol Spence: After the Car Crash
– David Avanesyan: extreme rival
– Shawn Porter: Late in career
– Kell Brook: after defeating Gennady Golovkin
– Egidijus Kavaliauskas: bottom contender
– Amir Khan: Washed

Crawford hasn't competed in a killer fight for the past six years, so his promotion of himself as No. 1 in the pound-for-pound division is hard to swallow. Some of these guys were good people before they grew old and washed ashore and were destroyed by car accidents. By the time Crawford fought them, they were invalid.