Crawford’s age is a factor in the potential Canelo fight, Garcia says

Trainer Robert Garcia says Canelo Alvarez will fight Terence Crawford in May 2025. However, he doesn’t see Crawford winning because he is getting older and Canelo is naturally stronger than him.

He also takes a good punch and has been hit by harder punches than Crawford, who looked weak in his debut at 154 against Israil Madrimov on Aug. 3.

Crawford’s age and decline

Robert says Crawford isn’t shying away from a fight against interim WBC 154-pound champion Vergil Ortiz Jr. He just feels that the 37-year-old Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) is getting older and wants to get as much money as possible before soon he goes to pension.

Garcia says Crawford could earn three times more fighting Canelo (62-2-2, 39 KOs) than Vergil Jr. If Turki Alalshikh was willing to pay Canelo a huge amount of money to fight the older, thinner and weaker Crawford, the fight can happen.

Given that Terence would be making his debut at 168 by moving up two weight classes, it would be impossible to see a scenario in which he could win. It would be a company-wide battle.

A celebrity match

When you get a fighter as old as Crawford, who didn’t look good in his debut at 154, moving up two more weight classes to 168, it’s not a serious fight. It’s a celebrity game.

For it to be serious, Crawford would have to reach 168 and prove himself against top contenders. If he gets through three or four tough fights, then he could face Canelo.

Terence’s path to legitimacy

Put Crawford with these three to let him prove he’s worthy of fighting King Canelo:

1. David Benavidez
2. David Morrell
3. Osleys Iglesias

He’s not interested in proving himself even in a 168 fight; this simply shows you what it is looking for. It’s the money and NOT the inheritance. It’s a joke. This has nothing to do with Crawford’s purpose.

If this were the real world, Crawford would need to move up to 168 and gain the experience needed to prove he is suited to the position and deserves it.

Terence doesn’t have to do that here, and the ones who will lose are the fans because he will either get blown away by Canelo or make it very, very boring like Jermell Charlo did when he moved up from 154 in 2023 to challenge Canelo. Jermell is bigger, faster and stronger than Crawford.

He couldn’t do anything with Canelo and was forced to run to save his skin. The fight was unwatchable, but Charlo got his big payday and hasn’t been seen in the ring since. It was a profit for him, and the fans got a subpar product for the money they paid to see the match on PPV.

Financial motivations

“We would fight right away. It’s not an easy fight. Crawford is a great fighter, pound for pound no. 1, no. 2 or n. 3,” Robert Garcia told Fighthype when asked about his interest in a fight between Vergil Ortiz Jr. and Terence Crawford.

“He’s already 37 and looking for the biggest payday. I think he’s considering a fight against Canelo, where he would triple the money he could make against Vergil,” Robert said of Crawford. “So he’s just playing smart. I don’t blame him. He’s already 37 and he’s looking for the best fights there out for him when it comes to finances.

“What I heard is like this [Canelo-Crawford] it could happen by May. I think Crawford is one of the best fighters out there, but he’s up there in age. We won’t know until he fights again. There is this possibility. It happens in boxing,” Garcia said of fighters who age overnight, especially as they approach their thirties, like Crawford.

Terence is getting older and approaching 38 years old. He looked awful in his last fight against Madrimov at 154, and probably would have been destroyed in a rematch or if he faced the division guy, IBF junior middleweight champion Bakhram Muratazaliev. That guy now fights at a higher level than Canelo and has more power. What he would do to Crawford with his left hooks wouldn’t be nice.

“I choose Canelo. It’s bigger, stronger [and younger than Crawford]. Canelo can take a really good punch. I see Crawford fighting well. Cnaleo is the bigger guy physically, stronger,” Garcia said.