By Chris Williams: Former two division world champion Andre Ward says Jose Benavidez Jr. put himself in position where he initiated a harsh reaction from WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford on Friday when he shoved the Nebraska native at their weigh-in for Saturday.
(Photo credit: Mikey Williams: Top Rank)
Crawford tried to punch Benavidez Jr. (27-0, 18 KOs) with a right hand that missed. The fighters were pulled apart before either of them could land anything, but it was a surprise that Crawford attempted to land a punch when pushed by Benavidez. Crawford showed that he was willing to take things to a different level.
Ward makes it clear that he doesn’t condone what Crawford did, but he also doesn’t blame him for doing it due to Benavidez putting his hand on him first.
“I don’t condone,” Ward said to Fighthype about Crawford trying to hit Benavidez at their weigh-in. “If you can avoid it, you shouldn’t be fighting before or after a fight. That’s the whole point of the fight game to actually fight, make money and do what you got to when it counts. Benavidez crossed the line. Don’t put your hands on me. It’s that simple. For every action there’s a reaction. Most times somebody will push back when they’re pushed, and Crawford chose to swing,” Ward said.
Ward says that Crawford telegraphed that he was going to throw a punch at Benavidez by bouncing twice before throwing his right hook. Ward points out that if Crawford had stood his ground and answered back with an immediate punch from close range, he would have got Benavidez right wa and things might have been different. However, what Ward fails to remember is that Benavidez’s push was a hard one in which he shoved Crawford several feet back. There was no chance for Crawford to land a punch from five feet when he was shoved back. Crawford had to close the distance to get near enough to Benavidez to land a shot. Benavidez watched Crawford as he approached him and he was ready for his punch when he got near enough to swing.
”I don’t know what I would have done, but it would have been a reaction for sure,” Ward said. ”I can’t let you put your hands on me and get away with it. If you push me, there’s going to be a reaction. You keep your hands off me, respect my space, we’re good. If not, there’s going to be a reaction,” Ward said.
Ward would be firing back on a light heavyweight, not Jose Benavidez. Ward talking about what he would have done is irrelevant, because he’s not a welterweight. If Ward was still fighting, he would likely be facing Artur Beterbiev, Adonis Stevenson or Dmitry Bivol. If Ward swung on one of those guys, he could get hurt if they hit him back, because they’re a lot more powerful than he is. A lot of boxing fans think Ward retired out of pressure that he would have been faced with for him to fight Beterbiev or Bivol. Those guys would have been very difficult fights for Ward, because they can take body shots and they don’t have stamina problems like Sergey Kovalev, who he beat twice in a row before retiring from boxing.
Ward didn’t fight Stevenson, a fighter who had wanted to fight him. Ward saying what he would have done doesn’t apply to Crawford’s situation because he’s not in his shoes. He can only talk about what he would have done if he were facing light heavyweights, and it might have been bad if he hauled off and punched the ikes of Stevenson, Beterbiev or Bivol if he’d been shoved by one of them. The fans wouldn’t have wanted to keep seeing Ward fight Kovalev, so that’s a fight that wouldn’t have happened if he had stayed around. Ward would have had to fight Beterbiev, Bivol or Stevenson or else he’d look like he was ducking them, which many boxing fans think was the case.
“I think what saved Benavidez is Crawford took two bounces,” Ward said in giving his opinion about why Benavidez wasn’t hit by Crawford. “He [Crawford] got pushed, he went boom boom, and then he came with a swing. If he just got pushed and came right away, it might have been all that,” Ward said.
Ward doesn’t realize that it was physically impossible for Crawford to punch Benavidez immediately after he was shoved, because he flew backwards too far. Unless Crawford’s arms were 10 feet long, he wasn’t going to be able to hit Benavidez unless he came forward to get close enough to connect. When Crawford did come forward, Benavidez was ready for him and easily ducked away from his lead right hook.
Benavidez showed his defense is on point,” Ward said. “A nice little duck back. It’s going to be a good fight. If they bring the same energy tomorrow night, it’s going to be a great fight. It’s going to boost the fight. My phone is blowing up by people who might not otherwise would have watched the fight. ‘Man, that weigh-in was crazy. This fight is going to be lit.’ But that’s what happens. People like conflict. It sells,” Ward said.
You must agree with Ward about the Crawford-Benavidez becoming bigger after Crawford attempted to land a punch. Boxing fans are now talking about the fight and showing interest in wanting to see it after not showing much of any interest in the match before today. Whether the conflict at Friday’s weigh-in will be enough to get the boxing public to schedule the time to sit and watch it remains to be seen. We’ll have to see if the fans want to see the fight badly enough to tune in on Saturday.
“I think so,” Ward said when asked if Crawford is the best fighter in boxing. “I think he’s proved it. The pound-for-pound list should be guys that have fought the best and beat the best over an extended period of time. Crawford has beat the best guys that have put in front of him. He’s unified an entire division. He’s good. He’s not only beaten everyone they’ve put in front of him. He’s called out the other guys. You’ve got to respect that. You’ve got to solute it. I think until someone proves otherwise, I think he’s the best,” Ward said.
It’s hard to agree with Ward’s opinion of Terence Crawford being the best fighter in boxing. The reason being is he hasn’t fought any of the talented fighters at 140 or 147. Ward says Crawford is the best in the sport because he’s beaten the best guys his promoters at Top Rank has put in front of him during his career, which you can say about a lot of fighters like Errol Spence Jr. and Vasyl Lomachenko. Those guys have beaten the best guys their promoters have put in front of them. To be sure, there are a lot of top guys that Spence and Lomachenko haven’t fought, but they’ve still beaten the beat guys that have been put in front of him. Crawford’s best wins during his 10-year pro career have come against these guys:
– Yuriorkis Gamboa
– Ricky Burns
– Julius Indongo
– Thomas Dulorme
– Jeff Horn
– Viktor Postol
– John Molina Jr.
– Raymundo Beltran
Those fighters aren’t good enough to make a case for Crawford being the best fighter in boxing. Crawford still hasn’t fought a top caliber fighter during his career. I hate to say it, but the guys that Crawford has been fed aren’t good enough to make him even a top five guy in the sport. Since when did beating Horn, Indongo and Postol make you the best in boxing? Ward seems to be enamored with Crawford for some reason, but a lot of people don’t see him as the best. For Crawford to be the best, he needs to defeat these guys:
1. Errol Spence Jr.
2. Shawn Porter
3. Keith Thurman
4. Danny Garcia
5. Regis Prograi
6. Jose Ramirez
7. Josh Taylor
It’s hard to argue that Crawford has done enough to rate him fighter than Spence, Saul Canelo Alvarez, Lomachenko or Gennady Golovkin in the Ring Magazine pound-for-pound list. Crawford’s resume is too thin and lacking for him to be viewed as the best in boxing. If you’re going to pick the number one pound for pound fighter based on him simply being undefeated and beating everyone that’s been put in front of him during his career, then you’ve got to say that Spence or WBC minimumweight champion Wanheng Menayothin should be #1 and #2 and IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua #3.
