SAUL ‘Canelo’ Alvarez has poured cold water on hopes of another cross-divisional superfight by revealing that Terence Crawford is ‘not in the plan’.
The Mexican cruised to a wide points victory over Jermell Charlo at the T-Mobile Arena here in Las Vegas on Saturday night.
And attention turned straight away to what might be next with Canelo set to return on Cinco de Mayo weekend.
Undisputed welterweight champion Crawford has been suggested as a potential opponent following the Omaha man’s superb performance against Errol Spence Jr in July.
And, after beating up a man two divisions below him in Charlo, the 33-year-old was asked whether Crawford is next.
He said: “I always say if the fight makes sense then why not? But he is not in the plan.
“If it makes sense maybe, I don’t know right now. I just want to enjoy this fight now and then you’ll know what’s next.
“I’ll sit down with Al Haymon, the rest of the team and decide my future but nothing is decided yet.
“I think this is Canelo. I’m back. Finally I’m back, I feel confident right now, i feel great and I’m so happy because I didn’t feel like this for a long time but now I’m back.”
In contrast, Charlo, who trains alongside Spence under Derrick James, is now actively pursuing a clash with Crawford.
The welterweight champion, who was ringside at the T-Mobile, immediately took to Twitter to criticise Charlo’s performance in Vegas. “You went out sad,” he Tweeted. “Didn’t even try to win, all you did was try to survive. You should be ashamed of yourself.”
But Charlo, who called out Crawford in the ring immediately after the defeat, spoke about him at his post-fight press conference too.
“Yeah Terence Crawford could be on the radar,” he said.
“I think he has already been on Twitter lip-wrestling on the internet to get some clout and fans and that’s fine.
“He’s a champ and great at what he does, my brother Errol wants his lick back and that’s what boxing is about.
“I’m going back down to 154lb, I can do it and make the weight easy. The experience [at 168lbs] was amazing, it was cool.”