Crawford sat ringside in Las Vegas, backed Benn to score the upset, watched Ryan destroy Benn in two rounds, and immediately had to backtrack. If Crawford was truly content in retirement, he would have congratulated him once or simply ignored the Ariel Helwani interview. Instead, his fingers are glued to X, trying to trade insults.

Crawford knows how the modern business works. He saw the check he got for Canelo, and he knows Turki Alalshikh has the checkbook to make another life-changing offer if the public demands it. Without Canelo or Ryan, Crawford has no viable nine-figure options left. Nobody is going to bankroll a Crawford return against Richardson, Hitchins, or Shakur Stevenson. Ryan is the golden goose right now.

By continuously pushing Ryan’s buttons and keeping it going, Crawford is keeping himself in the headlines and angling for Turki to step in with an ungodly sum to make the fight happen. He wants to pretend Ryan is beneath him, but every tweet proves he is waiting by the phone.

The strategy is obvious. Crawford knows Turki monitors social media traffic closely and loves putting together fights with massive name recognition. If Crawford can bait Ryan into demanding the fight publicly, Turki might cut the check just to deliver a blockbuster pay-per-view spectacle.

The problem for Crawford is that Ryan holds all the cards. Ryan does not need Crawford to sell out an arena or generate massive pay-per-view numbers. He could fight Haney again, face Teofimo, or even go after Gervonta Davis. Crawford, on the other hand, has zero alternative options that pay this kind of money. If Turki decides he would rather see Ryan against someone active, Crawford’s social media campaign falls completely flat, leaving him retired on the couch with empty pockets.