David Morrell says a potential fight between Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford is a “Fake” one, done just for “business” purposes.
The Canelo-Crawford fight still hasn’t been made, but His Excellency Turki Alalshikh mentioned in an interview that Crawford is out with an injury until May 2025. That’s obviously when Canelo will fight next. Turki will try to put that fight together.
Morrell doesn’t like the idea of Canelo defending against another 154-pounder. He fought four unified junior middleweight champion Jermell Charlo at 168 on September 30, 2023, and it was not a competitive matchup. Jermell is bigger and stronger than Crawford. He was too weak for Canelo and looked afraid.
Alalshikh was asked why he didn’t try and set up a fight between Crawford and WBC interim 154-lb champion Vergil Ortiz Jr for the giant February 22nd card in Riyadh, and he said Terence was out with a small injury.
Crawford would never fight Vergil because it’s risky, and he’s looking to hit the jackpot with a golden parachute retirement payday against Canelo. Turki had previously mentioned that he didn’t think Crawford would agree to fight Ortiz Jr., so it was obvious he wasn’t going to be an option for the February 22nd card.
WBA ‘regular’ light heavyweight champion Morrell states that he doesn’t like Canelo defending his unified three-belts at super middleweight against Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs), who would be moving up from 154.
“Bulls***!” – Morrell on Canelo
Morrell feels that Canelo should be defending his titles against the contenders at 168 instead of picking the 37-year-old Crawford for a title defense. He says it’s “Bull s***” if Canelo does that.
He already fought Edgar Berlanga and Jaime Munguia rather than facing David Benavidez when he was his WBC mandatory. He showed no interest in fighting Morrell either when he was at 168 and holding the WBA ‘regular’ belt.
“It’s simple. This fight is not good,” said Morrell to Fighthype, reacting to being asked about his thoughts on Crawford potentially fighting Alvarez in May 2025. “Canelo is one weight, and Crawford is a different weight. It’s for business. Canelo has a lot of good fighters at 168.
“He’s [Crawford] 154. It’s only for business. For me, it’s not good. Canelo has four good people at 168 that are a good fight. Before, Benavidez was at 168. Why didn’t they fight? Why fight Munguia? Canelo said before, ‘I never fight the Mexican people.’ Why did you fight Munguia? Later, you fight Berlanga.
“You have one guy at 168 that is mandatory. So, right now, it’s [Canelo-Crawford] is only for business. They’re finishing their career. They have two more years, three more years. Whatever guy for money. You have guys at 168. You don’t need a guy at 154 [Crawford]. For me, it’s bull s***.
The sanctioning bodies are allowing this kind of stuff to go on in the sport, and it’s pathetic. Canelo defended his then-undisputed super middleweight title against Jermell, despite Charlo never having fought at 168 before. It looks bad when Canelo passes over the top super middleweight titles to defend against someone from 154.
Morrell vs. Benavidez: The REAL Fight
“For me, it’s the best fight in 2025. It’s Cuba and Mexico. It’s two young guys,” said Morrell about his fight against Benavidez on February 1st. “Everyone says he’s the boogeyman. I say no. It’s a really great fight. This night is not bull s***. It’s not fake. Everybody go to Vegas. I promise you a good show.”
Morrell is defending his WBA ‘regular’ light heavyweight title against Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) on February 1st at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The event will be shown live on PBC on Prime Video PPV. The winner of the fight will be in a position to challenge for the 175-lb undisputed championship against the Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol 2 rematch winner.
“Benavidez is fake bullying. Before, he would talk s*** to people, and they would say nothing. I’m different,” said Morrell about David Benavidez being a bully unless you stand up to him the way he has.
Benavidez hasn’t fought anyone that was considered a 50-50 match-up for years, and he could have by now if he’d agreed to fight Morrell when he first called him out in 2022. He could have moved up to light heavyweight earlier in his career to test himself instead of waiting until now.
“If you’re nice, I’m nice. But if you’re a bad boy, I’m more of a bad boy than you. Right now, for me, it’s personal 100%,” said Morrell about Benavidez.
“I looked good for a new division, but I know I can look better,” said Morrell about his debut at 175 against Radivoje Kalajdzic on August 3rd.
Morrell is coming off of a one-sided 12-round unanimous decision over Kalajdzic (29-3, 21 KOs), and he looked good in that fight, hurting him several times.
