Terence Crawford has been tipped to retire if he can’t land his dream fight with Canelo Alvarez.
‘Bud’ has been chasing the fight to no avail since defeating Israil Madrimov in August.
Saudi boxing chief Turki Alalshikh had the blockbuster showdown at the top of his boxing wishlist for some time and even made an offer to Canelo before his last outing against Edgar Berlanga.
However, a breakdown in communication led to Alalshikh withdrawing his proposal.
The Chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority has floated around the idea of a potential fight between Vergil Ortiz and Crawford instead.
But Ortiz’s trainer, Garcia – who also trained Anthony Joshua for a short stint – doesn’t think Crawford is interested in facing his fighter.
“Crawford is a smart man. He already accomplished; he already did a lot,” he told FightHype of a potential Crawford vs Ortiz clash.
“He doesn’t need to challenge himself. He doesn’t need to prove himself to anybody.”
In fact, Garcia anticipates that it is Canelo or bust for Crawford after having a private chat with the two-weight undisputed champion recently.
“I’ve talked to him personally, and my feelings are that he wants that big fight against Canelo, and if he doesn’t get that, he may never fight again,” Garcia added.
“He doesn’t need anybody to push him to take a challenge that he doesn’t need to prove anything anymore.”
Garcia isn’t alone in his assessment. Alalshikh is also of the same thinking.
“I don’t think Crawford will fight anyone except Canelo,” Alalshikh told The Stomping Ground three months ago.
“We [will] give him an offer for [Vergil] Ortiz, [but] I don’t know if he’ll take it or not.
“We have an agreement to do [a] big fight with Ortiz if Crawford doesn’t take the fight.
“I don’t think he will take it, I think he only wants Canelo.”
In the same conversation, Alalshikh did give some hope that the Canelo fight could be salvaged though.
“We were talking with Canelo for a long time, around four months to do a big fight with him,” he said.
“What bothered me was when he announced that he respects me but he doesn’t like what Riyadh Season is doing to boxing.
“After that, I responded with what I responded and he sent an indirect message to me by someone and said, ‘No I am respecting you, but there was a situation between me and Eddie Hearn when we talk and I don’t like the way Eddie was talking to me.’
“Then I said, ‘It is not my responsibility if something happens between you and someone else, why get me inside this?’
“We want to do the big fights. My door is open to all the fighters, so let’s see.
“He sent to me an indirect message that he wants to connect after the fight, but I don’t know if this is a real message or not.
“It is nothing personal it is business. I’d like to see the fight against Crawford, I’d like to see the fight against David Benavidez.”
