TERENCE CRAWFORD: LOSING WOULDN'T TARNISH MY LEGACY, I'M A FIRST BALLOT HALL-OF-FAMER
LAS VEGAS – Canelo Alvarez seemingly has more to lose Saturday night than Terence Crawford.
The iconic Mexican champion already has two losses and two draws on his record. He’ll also earn a nine-figure purse for facing Crawford.
But if Alvarez is beaten by a 37-year-old opponent who moved up two weight classes to challenge him, the undisputed super middleweight champion’s legacy would be damaged. Crawford is widely viewed as a smaller man and has boxed above the welterweight limit of 147 pounds only once.
The mere idea of Crawford challenging Alvarez wasn’t even entertained by Alvarez or the paying public with any seriousness just a couple years ago.
While Crawford’s perfect record is at stake, if he loses to a perceived bigger man who has won world titles in each of the three divisions above the highest weight at which Crawford has fought, well, that’s what should have happened.
Crawford doesn’t agree with those prevailing perceptions of how this result should shape their legacies.
“First and foremost, I’m definitely gonna win,” Crawford told a group of reporters Wednesday at Fontainebleau Las Vegas. “I’m winning this fight for sure. But at the same time, I don’t think losing tarnish me or Canelo’s legacy. You know, I think Canelo’s a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer. You know, and I think that I’m a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer.
“So win, lose or draw, both of us going in the Hall of Fame. And I think that’s the ultimate goal at the end of the day, you know, to be named with all the great fighters that came before us, to be inducted into the Hall of Fame for all that we done in the sport of boxing.”
Alvarez (63-2-2, 39 KOs) and Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) are surefire first-ballot Hall-of-Fame fighters.
Crawford clearly can enhance his standing in boxing history, however, more than Alvarez by winning their 12-round fight for Alvarez’s Ring, IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO super middleweight titles.
A victory would make the Omaha, Nebraska native an undisputed champion in a third division, unprecedented for a male boxer in the four-belt era. Becoming a champion in a fifth division overall would be a rare accomplishment as well.
Crawford’s opinion of Alvarez’s legacy notwithstanding, he realizes there are legions of boxing observers unconvinced that he is capable of upsetting Alvarez in a main event Netflix will stream globally.
“I think people is underestimating everything about me, but that doesn’t matter,” Crawford said. “You know, we got a fight here Saturday and all the [questions] will be answered that night.”
Alvarez is a marginal favorite versus Crawford, according to DraftKings (-165/+135). Netflix’s undercard coverage is set to begin at 9 p.m. ET and 6 p.m. PT from Allegiant Stadium.