Following his win over Conor Benn, Ryan Garcia has been calling for a shot at Terence Crawford, despite the retirement of the former pound-for-pound number one, and former WBC cruiserweight ruler Tony Bellew has made his prediction for that possible bout.
Garcia and Crawford have been going back-and-forth in recent weeks, with ‘King Ry’ seeking to tempt the Omaha southpaw out of retirement for a lucrative all-American showdown that could potentially see Garcia become the ‘face of boxing’.
On Saturday in Las Vegas, Garcia needed only two rounds to dispatch of Benn as he made a first successful defence of his WBC welterweight crown, before proceeding to call out Crawford during the aftermath.
Speaking to The Stomping Ground after witnessing that two-round beatdown of Benn, Bellew advised Garcia to steer well clear of Crawford, favouring the 39-year-old veteran to come out on top in spite of his spell away from the sport.
“He [Garcia] can’t go anywhere near Bud [Crawford]. No, he is too clever, he is too smart. Trust me, he can’t go anywhere near Bud.
“He is someone who is a pretty clean liver, Terence Crawford knows what he is doing, trust me. He is a problem. You do not want to be going into rounds 10, 11 and 12 with someone like Terence Crawford.
“He is not going to beat Terence Crawford.”
With Crawford not yet reciprocating Garcia’s keenness for the clash, it seems as though the latter will instead move on to a welterweight unification bout against WBA titleholder Teofimo Lopez.
