Sometimes the most devastating answer in boxing is a compliment. Fannon Boxing breaks down Terence Crawford’s long-awaited response to Canelo Alvarez’s rematch push, and as Fannon paraphrases the post — the video does not read it out word-for-word — Crawford was nothing but cordial: he called Canelo “cold,” said he has always been a fan of watching him fight, and noted that Canelo has taken a lot of fighters’ unbeaten records, with Christian Mbilli the latest man whose “0” Canelo took when he won back a belt. Warm words, total respect — and, in Fannon’s reading, a polite non-answer. A brush-off dressed as praise. He sums it up at the end: a very polite reaction from a man acting as if he does not care and does not want the fight.
Fannon does not buy the retirement talk either — he wants to know when Crawford is coming back — but his prediction will land badly in Mexico: Crawford will NOT give Canelo the rematch, because Terence Crawford does not do rematches. That is a long way from Fannon’s own reporting days earlier that Crawford would take the fight only if the money flipped — which is exactly why this polite post matters. And Fannon is clear that his prediction is not his preference: Crawford SHOULD give Canelo a fair rematch. Canelo would not have expected to be denied one if he lost, the two men are roughly the same age, the first fight was a lot closer than people say, and boxing needs Crawford back.
The wider argument is where Fannon earns his money. He pushes back hard on another video’s claim that people calling for Crawford to come back for Canelo or Jaron Ennis simply want to see him lose: fans do not want a favourite to retire — they wanted Mayweather to play forever after the Berto fight — and Fannon counts himself a Crawford fan in the ring who wants those two fights because they are the highest level available. Ennis, in his view, is the only man who ever really had a chance to beat Crawford, and it is unfortunate Ennis cannot get the fight that would show everybody where he really stands. Then the knife turns, where it always turns: Shakur Stevenson’s weight-shopping gets held up as the dysfunction of American boxing — Benn at 147 but Haney only at 145, Gary Antuanne Russell at 140 but not Muratalla at 140, Muratalla dragged down to 135 where he would be uncomfortable. Advantage-seeking as a career plan.
Our take: Fannon traces that disease to a source nobody wants to name — Crawford, Andre Ward, Floyd Mayweather and Joe Calzaghe all retiring undefeated taught a generation that never losing is the whole goal. In the 1960s and 70s, fighters fought through losses, and losses never ruined Ali’s or Sugar Ray Robinson’s résumés. And the closing sting is pure karma: Canelo is now living what he did to Gennadiy Golovkin, refusing the third fight for years after two close ones — though he did eventually take it. Crawford has the chance to be better than the lesson he taught. Give the man his get-back, Bud. The sport is watching what an undefeated king does with a close fight on his record.
Video credit: Fannon Boxing.
