I don’t really get excited for Canelo anymore. The man has become very dull with his new low output style.
I'd like to see this fight happen. But not right now, I think Crawford needs to show what he can do at 154 at the very least and ideally have a fight at 160 too. Canelo's next two fights are with PBC so Crawford has time to fight at least twice. Ideally the Spence rematch doesn't happen and Crawford beats either Tszyu or Charlo at 154 and then moves up again pick up a title at 160. Then I'd really like to see Bud face Canelo.
Bud is 35. He dont have that kind of time imo. Bud could maybe fight Tszyu and, if he wanted, unify against Jermell before fighting Canelo (if he's still champ). I'm thinking he wants to skip all that and go straight to Canelo though. Guess we'll find out but I definitely hope Spence rematch does not delay Tszyu, Jermell, or Canelo...just not worth it.
PBC have Canelo under contract they are not going to just give Bud the fight, they froze him out of the Spence fight for years trying to age him out already and after the demolition job on Spence I would be surprised if they just gave him a shot at Canelo right away. So what Crawford wants doesn't really matter as he isn't the one that gets to dictate what happens. But I agree I suspect Crawford would probably prefer to skip the Spence rematch and go straight into a fight with Canelo. I suspect the rematch happens just so PBC gets one more payday for Spence and themselves. Canelo fights Jermall and then hopefully Benavidez and Crawford fight Jermell or Tszyu. Then after the 3 fight deal is done with PBC, Canelo is free to make a fight with Crawford and that's when it maybe happens in 2025.
RJJ said Bud should be careful about moving all the way up to fight Canelo. He says he should fight Charlo at 154, see how he does there, if he dominates Charlo or makes a statement like stopping Charlo then he would prove he is special and possibly justify a Canelo fight. The problem though, as you said, is age. Bud is 36 now, his birthday was last week, so I agree with the idea that he doesn't have the kind of time to get into 154 wars before fighting Canelo. And now Bud's saying Charlo's no longer on his hit list. I gotta be honest, I have my doubts about Bud being able to beat Jermell Charlo at 154, or Tim Tszyu, let alone Canelo at 168. Thing is, Canelo is not going to fight two small guys in a row, his next fight will almost surely be vs the winner of Benavidez vs Andrade next May. If Canelo wins that, then maybe there's a chance for Canelo vs Bud next September. Realistically I think Bud, like you said, doesn't want to deal with Charlo at 154, because he knows it could only hurt his chance at Canelo.