By Kenneth Friedman: Former junior middleweight champion Austin ‘No Doubt’ Trout says he plans on moving down to the 147-pound division to get fights against some of the popular fighters. In the short term, Trout (32-5-1, 18 KOs) is interested in fighting Adrien Broner, Danny Garcia, and Terence Crawford.

Trout wants to reinvent himself at 147, and he believes he’s got the talent to hit the ground running as one of the top guys. He’s already proven he can hang with huge punchers like the Charlo brothers, Canelo Alvarez and Jarrett Hurd.

Trout wants to use those guys to help him prepare for his bigger targets against Errol Spence Jr. and Keith Thurman. He rates those guys highly. Surprisingly, Trout doesn’t view WBO welterweight champion Crawford near the top of the 147-pound weight class.

Crawford not rated highly by Trout

Trout notes that Crawford has been beating a lot of smaller guys, and he fails to rate him in the top four at welterweight. That suggests that Trout might agree with the fans who feel that Crawford is the product of careful match-making by his promoters at Top Rank.

Trout, 34, says when he sees huge welterweights like Spence, who is the same size as him, he feels he should be fighting at 147 as well. At 154, Trout was undersized against the hulking fighters like Jarrett Hurd and the Charlo twins. He should have moved down to 147 years ago rather than put himself at a disadvantage against middleweight-sized fighters at junior middleweight.

Broner, Crawford, Garcia on Trout’s hit list

“Looking at the landscape, I used to be a big guy at 154,” said Trout to AB Boxing News. “I’m not a big guy anymore. Now looking at the 147 pounders, those guys are my size like Errol Spence. If they’re cutting down to get down to 147, I’ve never tried. Sitting and saying I couldn’t do it is an educated guess.

“I was saying that let me add a little bit of discipline in between fights to see what my weight will be like. Honestly, it wasn’t like being a monk or anything. It was adding a little bit more discipline.

“I normally don’t eat meat in between camps. I’m now closer to 147 than I am to 154. I’m not that heavy. Honestly, I would love to fight Broner, I would love to fight Danny Garcia to get my way up to a Thurman, Spence, and even Crawford. I don’t see anyone liming up to fight Crawford, but I’ll fight his a**.

“I think so so, but also I’m the bigger man and he’s been beating up some guys that I feel are smaller dudes. Even if it wasn’t technical, I’d just make it ugly. We have options.

“I think it’ll be very hard and practically impossible to get those fights. But it was impossible for me to get the Cotto and Canelo fights, and I ended up getting them. I got the Hurd fight, and a lot of people didn’t think I was going to get it. One of those fights is going to happen,” said Trout.

With Trout being with Al Haymon, that puts him in a good position to face Manny Pacquiao, Keith Thurman, Adrien Broner, Danny Garcia, and Spence.

Trout ranks Spence #1 at 147

“The top five welterweights right now, I’m going to have to go with Spence,” said Trout. “After Spence, I would go Porter and then I would go Thurman. For the four spots, I would go Yordenis Ugas. I think he’s a problem.

“Yes,” said Trout when asked if he believes Thurman can retake the top spot at welterweight. “His hunger is what he’s back lacking. He was injured, got married, and was doing the Thailand thing and on a spiritual journey.

“Boxing was not on his mind. If his hunger is back, he’s making too much money not to be hungry. I’m still hungry. He [Thurman] can come and test my hunger. We can teach each other’s hunger in that ring.

“Manny is different, and he looks like he’s back to his old ways. I’ll leave it at that,” said Trout. “I want to try my hand at 147, but if the right fight at 154, I’m right there and ain’t going nowhere.

“I’m still interested in enforcing my hand to get the rematch, and with me being inactive in 2020, I feel like I can do that. The 154-pound division is still popping, and there are plenty of opportunities there,” said Trout.

Pacquiao would be an excellent fight for Trout if he could get it, but it’s not something that one can see happening in the foreseeable future. The same would apply with Danny Garcia and Broner.

There are a lot of great fights available for Trout if he can make the 147-pound limit. Trout is a disciplined fighter, who doesn’t let his weight get out of hand in between contests.

More options for Trout at 147

“I think to be able to feel strong at 147, which I’m still figuring out. I think that opens up more fights at 154 and 147. Tony Harrison had the title, and then it went back to Charlo. I’m sure they have a rubber match in the contract. Hopefully, they did. I feel Lubin too though. He’s like, ‘It’s my turn again.’

“He was trying to push,” said Trout on his loss to Jarrett Hurd. “I wonder what it’s like to fight Hurd after a long layoff. That was my first fight in 17 months, and it was all working for a while,” said Trout.

At 154, Trout has already lost to Hurd and WBC champion Jermell Charlo. If he were to stay in that division, he would need to go after IBF/WBA champ Jeison Rosario or WBO belt-holder Patrick Teixeira. Those aren’t big names, and both would be more trouble than they’re worth.

Trout was getting the better of Hurd back in 2017, but he ran out of gas in the 10th with the pressure he put on him and was stopped.

Trout’s best bet could be for him to tackle a tough fighter like Yordenis Ugas or Shawn Porter. If Trout beats one of those guys, it’ll put him in position for a world title shot at 147.

Options for Trout at 147

Adrien Broner
Danny Garcia
Errol Spence Jr
Danny Garcia
Keith Thurman
Yordenis Ugas
Shawn Porter
Amir Khan
Kell Brook
Terence Crawford

Fighting without fans not a problem

“I am because I want to get back to work,” said Trout when asked if he’s supportive of fighting without fans. “If they want to do it that way, then it’s fine. Have you heard of a journeyman that do well in sparring, but don’t do well during fights?

“If it stays like that in that format for a long period of time [without fans], you’re going to see some guys that you never thought could do anything will smash everybody because they’ll take the pressure with lights being off,” said Trout.

That’s going to be a strange experience to have boxing without fans present. Assuming that the global pandemic lasts as long as 1918 Spanish Flu, we could have boxing behind closed doors for three years.

That would be a worst-case scenario though, but it’s also quite possible. A lot of fans might not be aware of this but it takes decades to develop flu vaccines. They’re not created in one year or even three years. The promoters that are organized quickly to put fights behind closed doors before the others are the ones that’ll do well during the pandemic.