By Chris Williams: Terence Crawford says he’s got new goals with it being a new year in 2020, and he wants to win another world title belt against one of the other champions at 147. Without naming any names, Crawford (36-0, 27 KOs) says he wants the welterweight champions to stop ducking him.
Crawford is telling the 147-lb champions to ‘QUIT ducking’, and yet he doesn’t want to fight Shawn Porter. A lot of boxing fans think Crawford is ducking Porter, so it looks silly for him to be telling the other champions at 147 to stop ducking him.
WBO 147-lb champion Crawford only has 3 other welterweight belt holders to pick from for him to face in a unification match in 2020. Those champions are as follows:
- Alexander Besputin – WBA secondary champ
- Manny Pacquiao – WBA Super World
- Errol Spence Jr. – IBF & WBC
Spence and Pacquiao not likely to face Crawford in 2020
If Crawford hasn’t been keeping up with the news, then we’ll have to let him know that Spence is currently out of commission due to a car crash on October 10th in Dallas, Texas. Spence (26-0, 21 KOs) says he’ll be back in action in April or in the summer, but he’s not going to fight Crawford obviously in his first fight back.
The 41-year-old Pacquiao isn’t going to fight Crawford, and it’s not even worth discussing a fight between them. In 2020, Pacquiao will likely be facing Mikey Garcia and Floyd Mayweather Jr. Crawford arguably brings much less to the table than Mikey and Mayweather for Pacquiao to fight. Sure, Crawford would like to fight Pacquiao, but he doesn’t have a big enough fan base for the Filipino star to bother fighting him.
Additionally, Crawford’s style of fighting isn’t the type that Pacquiao does well against. Crawford is a counter puncher, who moves and changes stances frequently. Mayweather is a puncher as well, but he doesn’t run around the ring like Crawford, and his huge fan base makes him worth it for Pacquiao to fight him.
New year. New day. New goals. New belts? #2020 #quitduckinme pic.twitter.com/AG3aCMoXoX
— Terence Crawford (@terencecrawford) January 4, 2020
Besputin holds WBA secondary title
Crawford gains nothing in fighting WBA ‘regular’ welterweight champion Alexander Besputin (14-0, 9 KOs) for his secondary belt. Pacquiao has the title that counts with the World Boxing Association, and that’s the guy that Crawford should be trying to take on.
Crawford should call out WBA Gold welterweight champion Vergil Ortiz Jr., because that’s a fight that could get made. But with Crawford getting knocked down by Egidijus Kavaliauskas in his last fight on December 14, then the last thing he needs is to be fighting an even bigger puncher than him in Ortiz Jr.
Crawford is getting old at 32, and he doesn’t have a lot of time left in his career before he start taking losses one after another. He’s a fighter that depends on his speed and reflexes to win his fights, and once those are gone, he’ll be vulnerable.
