Last month, Terence Crawford announced his retirement from boxing, but Roy Jones Jr still believes that there is one man who could bring ‘Bud’ back to the sport.
Crawford overcame Canelo Alvarez back in September in a legacy-defining triumph, becoming a five-weight world champion and boxing’s second three-division undisputed champion by claiming all four belts at 168lbs.
Off the back of that win the 38-year-old had been linked to a move down to the middleweight division, where he could fill in the gap of his successes between lightweight and super-middleweight and add a world title in a sixth division to his many accolades.
However, Crawford instead opted to hang up the gloves and walk away from the world of boxing whilst he was on top of it, being one of few boxing greats to retire with an undefeated record.
Yet, Jones told Clubhouse Boxing that Turki Alalshikh, the man behind Saudi Arabia’s rise in boxing, could be the one to lure ‘Bud’ back into the ring if he offered an “astronomical amount of money.”
“It’s hard to say [whether Crawford will return] because with the way that Turki pays people nowadays, if Turki offers him enough money then I am sure that he will come back.
“It’s an opportunity. If you are still good and nobody has ever beat you and you feel that you can beat most of the people out there, then he is going to give you an astronomical amount of money to do it, why would you leave that on the table?”
Of the available options, a rematch with Canelo would still likely be the most lucrative, but with the Mexican superstar ruled out until September, it’s tough to envisage the return of Crawford anytime soon, if at all.
