Daniel Cormier sees UFC CEO Dana White having a positive impact on the promotion of Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford.
White will be promoting Canelo (63-2-2) vs. Crawford (41-0) under TKO Boxing, a recently announced promotion between UFC parent company TKO and Saudi Arabia’s Turki Alalshikh. Canelo meets Crawford Sept. 12 in a super-middleweight bout at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. The fight will have the Ring, WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO titles on the line.
Canelo is coming off a unanimous decision win over William Scull this past Saturday, a performance which was criticized by many. Meanwhile, undefeated Crawford most recently competed last August when he defeated Israil Madrimov by unanimous decision. While Cormier thinks this fight should have happened a few years ago, he sees White having the ability to keep the interest high.
“They’re two of the best boxers in the world,” Cormier said on his YouTube channel. “They’re not over the hill at all. These are phenomenal fighters. They’re both still in their prime. Most UFC champions aren’t even under 30. I don’t know that we have one under-30 male champion right now. So they’re in their athletic prime, 30-35.
“But a couple of years ago, it might have had a little more steam because they didn’t have that performance that Canelo had last night. With that being said, Dana White’s going to promote this thing, and because Dana White is going to promote this thing, I feel like it will bring a different level of interest into (boxing). … They’re still in their athletic prime. I wish I got to see it a couple of years ago when Canelo was a little smaller.”
White has been critical of the boxing model throughout the years and how unlike the UFC, they don’t pit the best against the best. Canelo vs. Crawford is considered one of the biggest fights in boxing history where two of the pound-for-pound best fighters will be squaring off.
“I thought Canelo – he’s not as good as he was when he was fighting at 154 or 160, because he’s a little bigger, carries more muscle, but I think it’s going to be a blockbuster event,” Cormier said. “It’s going to be one of the biggest pay-per-views we’ve ever seen. It’s going to be highly competitive, and I do believe that added element, that Dana’s going to be promoting, that Riyadh Season’s going to be promoting, is going to make more people tap in to what’s going on in this big fight. … It’s a massive fight. I hope that it can deliver and match or exceed the expectation.
“Growing up, they always put the two best guys together when it felt like they were supposed to be together. It still feels like we haven’t missed the window for these two, and I feel like this is going to be a big fight, a good fight, a fun fight, and a true competition between two of the best boxers of the entire world.”
