Floyd Mayweather Jr may truly be the “face of boxing” with almost every interview he engages in resulting in controversy and becoming mainstream throughout the internet and social media. This was even more apparent following his latest interview where the former multi-division champion believed Terence Crawford and David Benavidez should fight each other to gain the opportunity to face Canelo Alvarez, despite there being absolutely zero guarantees for either fighter actually getting an Alvarez fight if they win.
Floyd Mayweather Jr’s proposition for Terence Crawford (40-0, 31 KO’s) and David Benavidez (28-0, 24 KO’s) to face each other seemed to hinge on the fact they are both gunning for undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez (60-2-2, 39 KO’s), thus justifying a potential match between them.
“I thought about this, if he [Terence Crawford] wants to move to 168 [lbs] and he wants to fight Canelo [Alvarez], and [David] Benavidez wants to fight Canelo―if they can’t get Canelo, they can fight each other,” Floyd Mayweather told FightHype.com.
“I’m saying both of you guys are chasing one fighter. If y’all can’t get that fighter, then y’all should fight each other.”
Though Floyd Mayweather Jr’s words would have made sense if it wasn’t for the fact that David Benavidez was Alvarez’ WBC mandatory challenger at 168 lbs since he defeated Caleb Plant (22-3, 13 KO’s) last year, which is a position which is supposed to guarantee the opportunity to face Alvarez. However, Canelo Alvarez seems to not be bound by the same rules as other champions with the WBC refusing to order Alvarez and Benavidez to fight each other for inexplicable reasons, thus allowing the Mexican undisputed champion to skirt his mandatory obligations as holder of the WBC super middleweight belt.
With Alvarez also having recently publicly refused to face Terence Crawford, the Mexican undisputed champion is perhaps the only champion in boxing that is currently impervious to the rules of the sanctioning bodies, with neither the WBA, WBC or IBF having bothered to trigger a mandatory challenger for Alvarez to face―despite their own rules dictating a champion should defend their titles against a mandatory contender within a certain timeframe, usually set between six to nine months.
In light of the inability to face Canelo Alvarez, David Benavidez is supposedly preparing to face Ukrainian former world champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk (20-1, 16 KO’s) at light-heavyweight, signifying Alvarez’ influence in the sport of boxing with #1 contender Benavidez denied an opportunity to face him, while Alvarez seems to have no compulsions facing lower-rated contenders such as Jaime Munguia (43-0, 34 KO’s).
As for Terence Crawford, the unified welterweight himself does not truly warrant a fight with Canelo Alvarez, despite his achievements, as he has his own obligations to fulfill as the unified champion of the welterweight division. While Crawford is currently considered a WBO “super champion”, which allows him to move up or down any weight class to challenge the WBO champion of whatever division he chooses to fight in, it would require Crawford to relinquish the remainder of his welterweight titles [WBA, WBC and WBO].
However, as of yet, Crawford has only shown a willingness to move up in this manner to face WBO champion Tim Tszyu (24-0, 17 KO’s) at 154 lbs. While he can just as easily corral the WBO in ordering a fight against Canelo Alvarez, there is a decent probability that Alvarez could simply relinquish his WBO 168 lbs belt instead of facing Crawford; which would then see a beltless Crawford stuck in the 168 lbs division where he would fight anyone but Canelo Alvarez for the vacant WBO super middleweight title.
In regards to Crawford’s situation, Floyd Mayweather Jr did propose a solution that would allow Crawford to remain active and make history at the same time if he were to face and defeat IBF welterweight champion Jaron “Boots” Ennis (31-0, 28 KO’s) in an undisputed welterweight bout.
“I think that would be a hell of a fight,” Mayweather said after the topic of Crawford facing Ennis was broached. “Someone got to give Boots [Jaron Ennis] the opportunity and a chance, whether it’s Terence [Crawford, or somebody else. It’s been difficult for Crawford to get the Spence fight done, it’s been difficult for him to get the Canelo fight done, so his other option is probably Boots Ennis.
“You got to ask yourself, is about the legacy, is it about the money, or is it both? I’m not in these fighters’ heads, so I don’t know. But if you want to fight, fight him. If you don’t want to fight him, don’t fight him. Fight somebody else. Do what makes you happy.“
A fight between Terence Crawford and Jaron Ennis would be the perfect manner to stage a once-in-a-generation fight between two undefeated champions at two different trajectories in their careers, with Crawford being all but certain to become a first-ballot Hall of Famer while Jaron Ennis has yet to compete in any significant fight despite his status as a world champion.
Not only would a fight between the two American welterweights be for undisputed as they would unify their titles, it would be a match in the same vein as Floyd Mayweather Jr’s 2013 match against Canelo Alvarez with then up-and-coming superstar Alvarez facing the well-established and most prolific boxer at the time in Mayweather himself.
While Canelo Alvarez would lose the match by unanimous decision in what became a dominant boxing showcase for Floyd Mayweather, Alvarez would eventually become considered the “face of boxing”, reflected by his recent achievement as the highest-earning boxer of 2023, according to Forbes.
However, Crawford, though one of the most recognizable fighters in the world at this point, is still not equivalent to Canelo Alvarez in popularity, and is now without a boxing promotion following the news that the rematch clause for his second match with Errol Spence Jr. (28-1, 22 KO’s) has expired. Given his current free agent status, it will be a difficult task to arrange a match with Ennis who purportedly also a free agent―or at the very least on the verge of becoming one given his current dispute with American-based promotion Now Boxing to whom he had bee signed in the past couple of years.
An undisputed welterweight fight would be welcome, but is unlikely to happen unless both fighters can agree on a promotional outfit that is willing to stage their fight.
