‘He drives his opponent crazy’: Arum says Crawford has real shot to beat Canelo

Top Rank promoter Bob Arum says Terence Crawford can’t be counted out in a potential fight against Canelo.

Bob Arum spends some time chatting with Fight Hype about a few big fights on the schedule and some prospective ones, including Artur Beterbiev vs Dmitry Bivol 2, David Benavidez vs David Morrell, Canelo Alvarez vs Terence Crawford, and Ryan Garcia vs Devin Haney 2. Here’s what he had to say about those fights, and why he says Crawford can’t be counted out against Canelo.

Arum on how he see the Beterbiev vs Bivol rematch going

“These two guys are really good, competent light heavyweights. I like my guy’s chances, my guy is Beterbiev, but it can go either way. It was a very close fight the first time they fought, I don’t think it’ll be a walkover this time. I think it’ll be a close fight.”

On Benavidez vs Morrell

“I love Benavidez. I think Benavidez is probably the best 168 pound fighter and that includes Canelo. I think Benavidez is a real talent, his opponent is very, very good, but I certainly like Benavidez in the fight.”

On how he thinks a Canelo vs Crawford fight plays out

“I wouldn’t count Crawford out in any fight because Crawford has a unique talent. He’s a great boxer, a boxer-puncher, and he’s totally ambidextrous so he drives his opponent crazy because the opponent trains to fight a right-handed fighter and ends fighting a southpaw. And that’s what happened to Errol Spence.

“I think what Crawford is looking for is Manny Pacquiao vs De La Hoya fight (in style terms).”

On the chances of having a rematch between Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney

“Well that depends on the money that Turki Alalshikh comes up with because the way the market is for PPV, there isn’t that much of a market for the fight. So if The Kingdom is ready to put up money with really not much hope to get it back then the fight can happen.”