Some hoped for it, others always considered it a senseless match. The fact remains that a fight between Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Terence “Bud” Crawford really seemed like it could materialize, at least until today. However, the Saudi organizer Turki Alalshikh appears to have definitively put an end to it, judging by the statement about his plans for the upcoming sports season, which he released this morning on X. Here is the full text of the announcement:
Just wrapped up an important meeting now with my team, planning for the upcoming fights that we will make for 2024-2025. I decided to disregard the Canelo fight, as I don’t want it anymore. Instead, I will be focusing for the US market with bigger fights, especially for the legend Crawford. Additionally, I will support making fights for Boots, Haney, Shakur, Ortiz, Anderson, Benavidez, Zepeda and more, regarding Tim Tszyu, there’s something unclear with the communications from his team with our team, so I believe I will reconsider his situation. and for the rest of the world, definitely, I am focusing on Riyadh Season card, wembley edition 21st of September (AJ vs. Dubois) and depending on the results and the results of Riyadh Season’s opening card (Bivol vs. Beterbiev) on the 12th of October, I will build the card for the rematch of Fury vs. Usyk on the 21st of December and another big card on the first quarter of 2025. Stay tuned.
Now that the fight against Crawford seems definitively off the table and the only two noteworthy opponents who could have challenged him in the super middleweight division (David Benavidez and David Morrell) have moved up a category, it will be increasingly difficult for Canelo to find suitable opponents to generate significant media interest.