David Benavidez has shared his thoughts on a potential fight between Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez and Terence Crawford. The light heavyweight contender, who's been trying to get a shot at Canelo himself, gave his take on how Crawford might fare against the Mexican superstar.
Benavidez didn't hold back his admiration for Crawford's skills. He said:
"To be honest with you, Crawford is one of the best technical fighters I have ever seen. When he went to 154, I'm not saying he had problems, but he looked like he didn't have the power he had at 147, and he'd still have to come up two or there weights classes. Crawford is a one-of-a-kind fighter but weight classes must be respected."
Crawford's recent move up to 154 pounds, where he won a world title in August 2024, caught Benavidez's eye. He noticed that Crawford's power didn't seem to carry up as well as it did at welterweight.
Canelo and Crawford are two of the best boxers active today. Canelo's the undisputed champ at super middleweight and has held belts at middleweight and light heavyweight. He's only lost twice in over 50 fights - once to Floyd Mayweather early in his career and once to Dmitry Bivol at light heavyweight in 2022.
Crawford's got an impressive record too. He's been undisputed champ at lightweight and welterweight, and now he's a world champ at 154 pounds. He's still undefeated and made a big statement when he beat Errol Spence Jr in the summer of 2023 to become the undisputed welterweight king.
Despite having plenty of praise for Crawford, Benavidez thinks the weight difference would be too much to overcome. He said:
"I'd give Canelo the edge."
The weight gap between Canelo and Crawford is the main hurdle for this dream fight. Crawford would need to jump up two or three weight classes to meet Canelo. Right now, neither fighter has locked in their next bout, so fans will have to wait and see what happens next.
