Terence Crawford has heard everything he has needed to from Canelo Alvarez lately to believe that the Mexican legend perceives him as a "threat to his legacy."
That's the verdict Crawford explained on Shawn Porter's "The PorterWay Podcast" on Wednesday as the two boxing greats had been linked for a possible mega bout, before Turki Alalshikh decided to turn the page on it earlier this week.
"It's crazy and it makes me laugh with all the antics Canelo is doing and saying in the media about the size and he won't get no credit," Crawford began explaining on the podcast, referring to him being the smaller man who would move up two weight classes to 168 pounds to make the bout with Alvarez happen.
"But Canelo been fighting smaller guys his whole career," Crawford continued. "Canelo been making his own catchweight for years. Canelo fought a smaller [Floyd] Mayweather, Canelo fought a smaller Amir Khan. He fought Jermell Charlo and I'm pretty sure he didn't make as much money with all those guys except Mayweather — even [Edgar] Berlanga right now — that he will with me.
Crawford added: "But yet and still, he has all these excuses why he don't want to take a fight with me. If it's all about business, then you're doing good business. If I'm easy work — I heard him say I'm easy work — if I was easy work, then you would take all that money that he's offering you."
As the consensus pound-for-pound best sees it, he believes Alvarez's $200 million demand to fight David Benavidez and his $150 million request to fight "Bud" are very telling.
"That just lets me know right there that I'm a threat to him," Crawford offered. "I'm a threat to him, I'm a threat to his legacy because it would be crazy for a guy that started at 135 to come all the way up to 168 — your weight, no catchweight — and dethrone you.
"He got that in the back of his head."
Last weekend, Crawford became a four-division world champion as a result of defeating Israil Madrimov via unanimous decision and claiming the WBA super welterweight title. The 36-year-old admitted to "The PorterWay Podcast" that the thought of climbing up to 168 pounds to clash with Alvarez was his "motivation fight."
Seeing Crawford needing to go the distance with Madrimov at 154 pounds, Alvarez recently suggested that "Bud" fighting a willing Teofimo Lopez next would be more appropriate.
Alvarez defends his unified super middleweight world titles against Berlanga on September 14, live on DAZN.
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