Paulie Malignaggi is critical of a possible fight between Canelo and Crawford

Boxing Pod host Paulie Malignaggi says Canelo Alvarez is taking advantage of His Excellency Turki Alalshikh by demanding a lot of money to fight Terence Crawford. Malignaggi sees this as a situation where Canelo is trying to take advantage of the money Turki pays for fights.

Canelo (61-2-2, 39 KOs) has repeatedly stated that he has no interest in fighting Crawford and sees no point in competing in a fantasy fight against a pumped-up welterweight who only cares about retirement money.

“I'm not crazy about it. Canelo is looking for easy prey for later in his career,” Paulie Malignaggi said on the YouTube channel talkSport Boxing about his thoughts on Terence Crawford's possible move up two weight classes to fight Canelo Alvarez if His Excellency Turki Alalshikh survives the fantasy fight.

“The fact that he [Canelo] was able to avoid an obligation for three years is absolutely appalling. The sanctioning bodies [WBC] should be really ashamed of themselves. It's a disgrace. I think he might consider Crawford, but he wants an insane amount of money,” Malignaggi said.

Boxing has changed. The sanctioning bodies have no power over popular fighters, and if they try to give them orders, they will be stripped of their belts and left with a less popular fighter taking their belts. Canelo would give up the WBC title if they ordered him to defend it.

It probably won't be long before a single governing body replaces the four sanctioning bodies, and the sooner that happens, the better for fans.

“He [Canelo] sees how much money Turki Alalshikh is paying and tries to capitalize on it, which Turki Alalshikh rightly took offense to. I'm not crazy about it. Weight classes are there for a reason. Crawford was unbelievable. His talent made up for the deficit in the weight classes, but at a certain point you start to see that,” Malignaggi said.

Canelo is not trying to take advantage of Turki. His high price is his way of saying he has no interest in fighting Crawford because he won't get the recognition he needs for beating a smaller, older fighter who looked like a wreck in his last fight against Madrimov. Canelo knows he will be criticized and trashed by fans for his fight against Crawford no matter how his fight turns out.

The easy way out

“Listen, the fight between Crawford and Madrimov was right there [very close]. I don't understand why there is this talk about Crawford and Canelo. I think if anything, this fight [Crawford vs. Madrimov] “It showed that he probably isn't capable of moving up many more weight classes. He really had to prove himself in this fight,” Malignaggi said.

People are talking about Canelo-Crawford because Crawford promoted this fight and Turki wants to arrange it for him. He likes Crawford even though he's not a crowd-puller and has never been to the U.S. If Crawford would sit back and focus on the fighters ahead of him in the 154 division instead of being a glutton, no one would mention Canelo. But he wants the big payday before he retires and he knows he'll lose if he keeps fighting in the 154 division.

“If you ask me, this fight was only decided in the last few rounds. Madrimov is good. They have a 154-pound weight class that is very, very good. I can understand why Crawford wants to fight Canelo because Canelo is like him. He's already made a lot of money and it's kind of a Hollywood fight where big names and big brands in the boxing division are competing,” Malignaggi said.

The fear of losing

Crawford almost lost to Madrimov and now knows that he is no longer the same fighter in the 154 weight class as he was in the 147, 140 and 135 weight classes. He had the advantage of having fought against many mediocre fighters in those weight classes and in the 154 weight class everything would look different.

The fighters in this division are much better fighters than the guys Crawford has fought during his career and he could lose many times trying to get his way against the top guys. Even one loss would destroy Crawford's dream of fighting Canelo forever, but he could do it many times if he fights the best. I could see Crawford losing a rematch against Madrimov and then getting beat by Sebastian Fundora or Vergil Ortiz.

“If you [Crawford] “When you fight these young, hungry guys, you're really going to be tested at the end, against guys the world won't think you can beat, like a Madrimov. This weight class is difficult,” Malignaggi said.

Crawford's preference to fight Canelo isn't just because he doesn't get any credit for beating fighters in the 154 division. He gets plenty of credit for beating all the top fighters in the 154 division. The problem is that he just wants to make big money with all that money at once.

His narrow win over Madrimov showed that if he decides to fight the killers in the 154 division, he will be beaten sooner or later. Crawford is no longer hungry at this point in his career. He is rich and has no interest in facing a lot of tough guys who are at the peak of their powers and better than anyone he has ever fought during his 16-year career.

If he chooses wisely, that might not happen in his next fight, but it could happen. If he narrowly beats Madrimov, one can only imagine what will happen when Crawford fights these guys:

– Serhii Bohachuk
– Virgil Ortiz Jr.
– Tim Tszyu
– Sebastian Fundora

Since Crawford only fights once a year, it would take him four years to face those fighters, and he would be 41 years old when he knocked them out. He doesn't beat all of those guys at that age, and would probably lose to some or all of them now.