John Ryder says Terence Crawford should have stayed at 154 for two or three more fights to get used to the weight before moving up to 168 to challenge Canelo Alvarez for his undisputed super middleweight championship on September 13th.

The Weight Advantage for Canelo

Ryder believes the weight will play a part in the fight, with Canelo having too much of an advantage over Crawford. He thinks Bud should have fought at 154 and 160 before going up to 168.

“I think the weight will be too much of an issue. Canelo is a special talent, and I think the weight will play a factor in the fight,” said John Ryder to Fight Hub TV. “I would have liked Crawford to be more at light middle and middleweight to build into it. But you take these opportunities when they come, and that’s what greatness is.”

After the problems Crawford had against Israil Madrimov, he and Turki Alalshikh chose not to fight any of the other talents at 154. You could tell from watching Terence’s performance against Madrimov that he would lose if he fought the other young junior middleweights, like Bakhram Murtazaliev, Vergil Ortiz Jr., Sebastian Fundora, and Yoenis Tellaz.

Age, size, and inactivity caught up to Crawford. If he had stayed at 154 to “build into” the weight class, as Ryder wished he’d have done, he would have lost repeatedly. As far as moving up to 160, that would have been worse for Crawford, fighting guys like Janibek Alimkhanuly, Carlos Adames, and Erisland Lara.

It’s not just size that would have caused Crawford to come undone. It’s his inactivity. Fighting once a year for five solid years has taken a lot of his game, and when you add to that his advanced age and lack of size, it’s too much.

Turki Alalshikh’s Lifeline to Crawford

If not for Turki throwing Crawford a lifeline by giving him the Canelo fight, Crawford likely would have retired after the Madrimov bout.

The “Silver Platter” Canelo Opportunity

It’s too bad Turki didn’t use his money on more deserving fighters from the 168-lb division, like Diego Pacheco, Christian Mbilli, and Olseys Iglesias. Those fighters deserve to fight Canelo more than Crawford. He should have had to earn the fight by beating them, rather than having the Alvarez fight given to him on a silver platter just because Turki likes him.

“Yeah, you build into it. His [Crawford] fight against Madrimov was his first fight at 154,” said Crawford. “He’s still developing and growing into that weight. He could have done a couple of more there, and then moved up to 160. But it’s all being done as bit of a rush.”

Crawford was in a rush because he saw the writing on the wall after he was gifted a decision against Madrimov. He’d have likely lost to all of these fighters:

– Bakhram Murtazaliev
– Erickson Lubin
– Sebastian Fundora
– Vergil Ortiz Jr.
– Jaron Ennis
– Serhii Bohachuk
– Janibek Alimkhnuly
– Erislandy Lara
– Carlos Adames

Boxing is a young man’s sport, and fighters who don’t stay active have even more problems. Crawford couldn’t have stayed at 154 a minute more than he did without his career tank. No way could have gone up to 160 and mixed it with Janibek, Lara, or Adames. Although Crawford is younger than the 42-year-old Lara, his inactivity makes him older, and he’s not as big as him or as technically gifted.

Could Crawford Retire After Canelo?

“So, he’s not going to fully put muscle on and build into the weight, and he’s obviously going to do it with the intention of getting back down to 154 and taking on other challenges. It’s not a long-term goal for him to stay there,” said Ryder.

We don’t know if Crawford will return to the 154-lb division, as he hasn’t mentioned it. It’s more likely that he’ll retire if he loses and isn’t given a rematch with Canelo. It’ll be up to Turki Alalshikh. If he wants to keep subsidizing Crawford’s career, keeping him going with unearned opportunities, he can continue doing so until the bottom drops out.