Las Vegas – immediately after proceeding in weight and Get out of a win In the nearest battle of his career, Terence Crawford – Then was insisting on jumping on his 37th birthday Another Two divisions to fight the undisputed 168-pound champion, Kennelo AlverezIt was 13 months ago. Crawford was addressing the audience of one: his patron, Saudi Arabia Boxing Financer, Turkish Alalshich.
Even from boxing standards-I recommend using the term, as there are only a few more suspected standard in boxing-this was a semi-pre-thoughtful idea. Allashikh shot him at a glance. “But weight?” He said.
Actually, it was more than just weight. Both history and general knowledge are not only naturally older men, but also small one, and in favor of the so -called “one side”. Couple with Kennel – prominent boxing person who had already produced almost half Arab Dollar in purse – Crofford was none of those things. What is more, he did it without emphasizing any general contractual nuances, even designed for obstacles: no catches, no rebellion section.
Allashikh proposed to a couple of very attractive, if more intelligent, option: Vergill Ortis Junior or Jaron “Shoes” EnnisEach of them undefined young stars with great ambition in 154 pounds. Crawford either refused to entertain the option. “The shoes are not a megafite,” he said. “Vergill Ortis is not a megafite. This is the end of my career tail. They are going to say,” You were going to win. ” I would like to have Kennelo Alverages. ,
He wanted that fight Was not Should win.
“Okay,” Allashikh said, relying. “I am going to try to get that fight for you.”
“he is Only I want, “said Crawford.
Thirteen months therefore, Kennalo and Crawford will fight at the Eligant Stadium on Saturday. Kennelo agreed to fight in exchange for a purse, which is more than $ 100 million (“more,” Allshikh announced at Thursday’s news conference) – a proposal that could not even refuse the leading person of the game. But all this started with Crophaord. “This is how we arrived here,” they say.
A generation of fighters has seen a score, a jackpot, a rival as a rival than the payment of a career. His victory, it seems, signing the contract, not fighting the quarrel. But Crawford sees Kennelo as his white whale, he was doing something long before that meeting with Allashikh: An existed corrective has suffered his career for whatever he believes, an answer to every minor back to the fighters, which will not fight him to fight the promoters, which is a source of ethnic honor and statement. But Only If he wins.
In fact, Crawfords have been studying Kennelo since at least 2015, when he showed in Mandalay Bay that Alvarez defeated the Future Hall of Famer, Miguel Koto for his first Middleweight title. Crawford, comparatively, then organized the WBO Junior Welterweight title. “I didn’t think it would be one thing to fight Kennelo,” he says. “We were far away in weight classes.”
Gradually, however, this will become one thing. In 2021, Crawford-Test-Tal was a welterweight champion, although there was a strict decrease for qualified opponents-Avni participated in a busy battle of alverages against a person named Avni Yieldirim iniami. Kenlo, now the 168-Pound Champion of WBC, Yielderim out In the third round. But as he did, the seed was planted. Crawford would not publicly mention it, but it was behind his brain.
By 2023, however, he started his behind-lap campaign to launch a Kennelo fight. At the end of that year, he met the then WBO President Francisco “Pako” Walkarsel at Puerto Rico and provoked the idea.
“I was surprised,” remembers Walkarcel. While Crawford Now Aarrol Space was defeated by Junior. To become undisputed in 147 pounds, Kennelo – who had already won the world title by knockout at 175 – was undisputed at 168. “Why don’t you wait for a couple of years?” Valcarcel gently advised.
“I can’t Wait, “Croffard shot back, citing her age.” I can beat him. ,
Until now, Crawford was a regular in Kennelo’s bipolar quarrel, and was still fresh in his mind Kenalo’s victory over German CharloCharlo, coming from 154 pounds, was dropped in round 7. After that, however, it was all paint-by-numbers. “He doesn’t fight to win,” says about Crawford Charlo. “He just fought to survive.”
In many cases, the Kenalo-Charlo Alverez career arc has become a well-known template: a single knockdown that is estimated to be a unanimous decision. There was a similar case in Kennelo’s victory over the choice of John Rider, Zame Munguia and Edgar Berlanga.
“They wanted payday,” Crawford tells me. “They did not want to win the battle. It was a win for him to go to 12 rounds.”
If the most recent victory of Kennalo – for which Crawford traveled all the way for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – then there was a shortage of Pro Form Knockdown, his rival, William Skull, not so much to survive. Crawford, meanwhile, fights only to destroy.
He said, if it is appropriate to judge the Kenlo on the basis of previous demonstrations, what about Crawford? Their last battle is moving by 154 and a close winning if the unanimous decision on the estimated Israel Madrimov has reduced much of the case for Kennelo.
“Madrimov taught me patience,” says Crawford. “He was very surprising and so explosive-jumping back and bouncing, all those crazy antics.
However, what about age? Alvarez is 35. Crawford is two weeks from his 38th birthday, which is older than the standards of any partition in any era, and of course there is not an optimal time to jump several divisions. Again, Alvarez has fought at least 520 rounds (perhaps more, as many of his early quarrels that never made it in record) as a supporter. He has two competitive fights with hard-touching Gainadi golavakinAnd damage to Floid Mayweather and, recently, Dimitri bivolCrawford, for its share, never beaten in 245 pro rounds, or beaten down. Who is old in boxing years? I am surprised.
“He is definitely,” says Crawford. “He started fighting professional on 15.”
Nevertheless, alverages are not only a “one side”, but an economy for itself. Keeping in mind the fighting on the Mexican Independence Day Weekend, it will definitely be a pro-caneo crowd, but more than that, the scorecard of the Kenalo judges will be an estimated beneficiary of any doubt on the scorecard. Crawford is not disagreeing. He knows that he cannot fight his specific fight, including a relatively slow start because he downloads his opponent’s tendency. He needs to start fast.
“Of course, of course,” they say. “I got to set the tone. You have to set a tone with Kenlo – to tell the judges to tell you how I see it. How can I see it: a round at a time. Don’t go in and try to knockout in the first round. Just just put the round in the bank.
The way Crawford explains it – the way he has been explaining it to himself for years – he makes his existence wrong sound, well, completely appropriate. Maybe how you hunt white whales, even red hair, when only one thing you want is what you don’t want to do.
