'Bud beats him' – Shakur Stevenson insists Terence Crawford would be too good for Canelo Alvarez despite praising him for Jaime Munguia win

05/05/2024 07:21

Shakur Stevenson believes Canelo Alvarez would be no match for Terence Crawford.

The Mexican superstar showed he is still a force to be reckoned with on Saturday night as he retained his undisputed 168lbs crown against Jaime Munguia in Las Vegas.

Munguia looked to overwhelm Canelo with multi-punch combinations throughout the fight but the former pound-for-pound king remained composed and picked his shots to perfection.

After a bright start from Munguia, the challenger was sent tumbling to the canvas by a crisp right uppercut in the fourth round.

From there, Canelo took over as the judges gave him the nod via unanimous decision with scorecards of 117-110, 116-111, 115-112 in his favour.

Although Stevenson was certainly impressed by Canelo’s display he insisted that the super-middleweight king still couldn’t beat ‘Bud’.

“Hellavu fighter Canelo is,” tweeted the WBC lightweight world champion. “Still think Bud beats him.”

Crawford is the current pound-for-pound number one and is a former two-weight undisputed champion.

However, those titles were picked up at super-lightweight and welterweight, three and four divisions below Canelo.

There had been rumours before the Munguia fight was announced that Crawford was in line to face Canelo next.

However, Canelo quickly distanced himself from the fight entirely.

"No," Canelo said when Box Azteca asked if he would fight Crawford.

Canelo's interviewer pointed out that he could make a lot of money by taking the fight, but the face of boxing doesn't think Crawford is worth the hassle.

He said: "Yes, but they're going to criticise me… and that's it, they love it.

"They criticised me because I fought [Jermell] Charlo who gained weight, who is bigger than me, because I'm a small fighter for these weights, and because he gained weight, but they didn't criticise him when I went up in weight.

“So now if you imagine Crawford as a welterweight. 168lbs, I have everything to lose and nothing to gain because if I win, they'll say, 'Oh, he was too small, and everything!"

Crawford has remained tight-lipped on a possible Canelo showdown but did react to his last outing.

“Look like Canelo carried him the whole fight!” he wrote on X.