Mikey Garcia slams Terence Crawford

By Boxing News - 02/21/2019 - Comments

Image: Mikey Garcia slams Terence Crawford

By Dan Ambrose: Mikey Garcia is still kicking sand in the face of Terence Crawford this week over his lack of access to the bigger names in the welterweight division. Mikey is moving up in weight to challenge IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr. in his next fight on March 16, whereas Crawford is fighting a former light welterweight champion Amir Khan on April 20.

Khan is considered a shot fighter by many boxing fans, and he’s not held a world title in eight years.

Garcia (39-0, 30 KOs) and Crawford have been going back and forth in trading verbal shots about their careers, and the quality of opposition that they’ve faced. In the middle of taking a shot at Crawford for his lack of access to the bigger names, Mikey seemed to express sympathy for him, saying that it “sucks” that he can’t get the bigger name.

“I’m fighting Errol Spence. He’s fighting Amir Khan,” Mikey said to esnewsreporting in slamming Terence Crawford. “I fought Easter undefeated. I fought Lipinets undefeated. I fought Dejan undefeated. [Before Top Rank setup the fight with Khan], they were talking about Khan or Collazo [for Crawford]. Those were the only two options. [Mikey starts laughing at this point],” Mikey said.

Mikey’s opposition isn’t that good either. It’s unclear how Mikey can try and sound like he’s well above Crawford with his opposition he’s faced when the competition he’s bragging about are these guys: Dejan Zlaticanin, Sergey Lipinets and Robert Easter Jr. Those aren’t great fighters. Zlatincanin is just a contender, and Easter Jr. and Lipinets were just regular belt holders, and never considered to be the best in their respective weight classes.

“It’s hard for him [Crawford] to get that notable fight,” Mikey said. “It’s hard for him…that’s what’s available. I’m trying to fight the biggest names, champion after champion. I’m not trying to fight contenders and former champions,” Mikey says in continuing to slam Crawford. “That’s because I’m capable of doing that. I’m my own employer. I handle my own business. It sucks that they [Top Rank] don’t have the pool of fighters. So their stuck fighting the fighters that are available, but they might not be the biggest names. It sucks for him, because he can’t get those names. He would love to get the welterweight champions and the names that are there like Spence, Thurman or Porter or even Danny Garcia, Broner. Those are all big names, but they’re somewhere else or they don’t have the direct access. I have the access right now, so he could still fight other guys at welterweight, you know. But the pool shrinks or it’s not the hottest pool of fighters to choose from,” Mikey said.

If Mikey wanted to be charitable to Crawford, he’d offer him a fight after he gets done with his fight with Spence on March 16, but that’s not likely to happen.

Crawford is with Top Rank, so he’s in a situation where he has to fight guys from their stable or fighters from other promotional companies that they work with. In the future, Top Rank will need to work with Premier Boxing Champions and Golden Boy Promotions a lot more if they’re to get the best fights for their guys. Crawford has been limited with the opposition he’s faced during his career. It would have been nice for Crawford to fight better guys at 140 and 147, but it’s not happened.

Crawford made the decision recently to re-up with Top Rank. Tim Bradley re-upped with Top Rank during his career, which some boxing fans argue ultimately narrowed his choices of opposition available to him. But in the case of Bradley, he had Manny Pacquiao to fight three times when he was with Top Rank, so he made a lot of money in those three fights. Crawford doesn’t have Pacquiao to fight, so it’s going to be harder for him to get that one career defining opponent. Amir Khan sure isn’t the guy that is going to give Crawford the big name that he needs and wants.

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