Terence Crawford's plans to move up two weight classes and challenge Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez for his super-middleweight titles have fallen through. The fight, which had seemed unlikely at first, won't happen after all.
Earlier this year, talks for the bout started and made good progress. They even settled on a date and venue. But now, things have changed.
Ring Magazine, owned by Turki Alalshikh who was putting the deal together, stated clearly that the fight is off. They didn't give a reason for the cancellation.
Fans on social media have quickly moved on, calling for Canelo to face David Benavidez instead. Benavidez's stock has never been higher. He recently moved up to light-heavyweight after failing to get a shot at Canelo in the super-middleweight division.
In his light-heavyweight debut, Benavidez beat Oleksandr Gvozdyk by decision. He followed that up with a win over the hard-hitting Cuban southpaw David Morrell, grabbing the WBC Interim belt and WBA Regular title in the process.
Benavidez is now in a great spot to fight the winner of Artur Beterbiev vs Dmitry Bivol. That fight happens later this month and will be their second clash.
If Canelo chooses to fight Benavidez, it would make fans happy. It would give Canelo a chance to beat the top contender and possibly set up a rematch with Bivol, who handed Canelo his last loss.
On the other hand, if Bivol beats Beterbiev, Canelo might go straight for that rematch. That could even lead to a third fight between them.
Whatever happens next, it's clear that Canelo has plenty of options after the Crawford fight fell through.
