Yeah, you're not the first person to mention this glitch. It's very annoying. Have you continued on to complete the calibration; and if so, how was the print match?
Oh, right, I understand now.
This is just a simple matter of Levels. Select that dark area, add a Levels layer and clip it to the cat layer, then use the black eyedropper to get the weight right.
https://www.damiensymonds.net/levels-eyedropper
Always with the Crop Tool. It can't work with Image Size, because mathematics (it will be out of proportion, as you say).
Can you show me a screenshot of how you're cropping to 11:15?
I completely agree with you. I have blurred sharp areas of photos many times, in order to attain consistency. It hurts my soul to blur good focus of course, but you have to do what you have to do.