WBC and WBO junior middleweight champion Sebastian Fundora’s promoter, Sampson Lewkowicz, says he’s open to negotiating a struggle with necessary Terence Crawford.
Lewkowicz states that Crawford hasn’t talked about desirous to struggle Fundora (21-1-1, 13 KOs), and the World Boxing Group hasn’t despatched a letter ordering them to barter. He additionally says His Excellency Turki Alalshikh hasn’t talked of desirous to make a struggle between Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs).
Crawford Nonetheless Needs Canelo
Possible, Crawford remains to be holding out his dim hope of a struggle in opposition to celebrity Canelo Alvarez falling into his lap, which is very unlikely. Canelo already stated he doesn’t want to focus on a struggle in opposition to anybody else till after his subsequent title protection in opposition to Edgar Berlanga on September 14th.
He’s open to a match in opposition to Crawford, however his asking value could also be too excessive for Turki to agree. Except Canelo is prepared to drop his asking value of $150 million, Crawford should transfer on and take the following finest struggle, simply Fundora, except he needs to struggle younger Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis.
“We’re ready for the WBO to ship us a letter for the necessary and negotiate,” stated promoter Sampson Lewkowicz to Fighthype when requested if Sebastian Fundora could possibly be defending his WBC and WBO Junior middleweight titles in opposition to Errol Spence subsequent.
“For those who see Crawford, he talks about everybody, however he by no means mentions Fundora in addition to Turki Alalshikh. I respect him, despite the fact that he didn’t point out Fundora. He has a proper to not point out, however nobody received in contact with me about that struggle [Crawford vs. Fundora].
If Crawford, 36, chooses to not power a title struggle in opposition to WBC/WBO 154-lb champion Fundora, ‘The Towering Inferno’ will doubtless defend in opposition to Errol Spence subsequent. That huge struggle will usher in quite a lot of income on PPV and ticket gross sales.
It’s comprehensible why Crawford won’t be in a rush to struggle once more, as he’s coming off a win over WBA junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov final Saturday night time. Furthermore, Crawford normally solely fights annually.
So, he’ll sit inactive for the following 12+ months, reveling in his win over Madrimov earlier than returning to the ring within the first half of 2025.
“Most likely there’s no curiosity, and no matter he comes to a decision, I’ll by no means go in opposition to a brand new promoter [Turki]. I’d by no means try this,” stated Lewkowicz about Turki’s curiosity in a struggle between Crawford and WBC and WBO 154-lb champion Fundora. “If he needs to do the most effective struggle, let him do it, however I’d by no means intrude with Turki.
Crawford’s Determination
“We have to negotiate. That might be a tricky struggle, however we wait. This can be a chess sport. We have to wait,” stated Lewkowicz when requested if he’d prefer to make a struggle between Fundora and Crawford. “We’re the champions. So, we’re ready for that letter, and we’ll see what occurs in the long run.”
Lewkowicz has a transparent curiosity in a struggle between Crawford and Fundora. Now, it’s as much as Crawford and Turki in the event that they wish to go in that path for the Nebraska native’s subsequent struggle or concentrate on making an attempt to place collectively a match in opposition to Canelo as soon as he’s carried out together with his protection in opposition to Berlanga.
