It is not surprising that Canelo Alvarez‘s projected new purse for his fight against Terence Crawford is once again stratospheric, at $150 million. What is worrying, especially for the promoters of the fight, is that the Mexican will give a poor show like the one he gave last weekend in Saudi Arabia against Cuban William Scull.
While CompuBox reported the Canelo-Scull fight as the 12-round fight with the fewest combined punches in the last four decades, what was clear to locals and strangers alike is that Scull has undoubtedly been the worst opponent on the long list of ‘bums’ that the Mexican has ‘chosen’, who also in recent times has put boxing aside to concentrate solely on the pay.
Dana White steps into the ring and Canelo is asleep at the wheel
That ‘little’ detail is starting to become a problem for three reasons, Terence Crawford is not William Scull, Las Vegas is not Riyadh, and despite being associated with him to promote this fight, Dana White is not Turki Alalshikh. These three elements are the ones that should wake up the Mexican who has fallen asleep on his laurels, and who has to get out of his comfort zone to risk something and prove with an eventual triumph against Crawford, that there is really no one who can stand up to him, and so he would only have David Benavidez, if he wants to then ‘hang up the gloves’.
The problem with the Mexican is that money has blinded him and the probable purse for the next fight in Sin City would not be very different from the one he received in Arabia for the fight against Scull, but this time the ‘boss’ is different, as Dana White enters the equation with promoter TKO Group Holdings.
And it was precisely the topic addressed by the only boxer who did not disappoint last weekend, after knocking out Ryan Garcia in the street ring of Times Square, Manhattan, Rolly Romero.
“Canelo only fights for the next paycheck”
Romero said it bluntly on the The Danza Project podcast: “Those were two horrible fights (Devin Haney’s and Canelo’s). I couldn’t even watch Devin’s fight, brother. I was warming up in the back. I didn’t want to fall asleep on the way to the ring.“
“Fighters like Canelo and Haney don’t have the will to win and promoters tolerate them. They tell them ‘no matter what happens, win or lose, you’ll keep fighting’ and the fighters are just motivated by the next paycheck. Everyone fights like that, Canelo is included in this now, everyone fights for the next paycheck,” Romero said.
And he also made a serious warning to Canelo about the new promoter of his September fight: “In the UFC, if you don’t fight to win, Dana White cuts your ass (…) He’ll give you a chance, but if you don’t fight to win, Dana doesn’t put up with that.”
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