By Chris Williams: Terence Crawford feels he should have gotten credit from the fans for his wins over guys like Amir Khan, Jeff Horn, Jose Benavidez Jr, and Egidijus Kavaliauskas. Crawford thinks those guys would give the top PBC 147-pounders a tough time.
The fans are critical of Crawford (36-0, 27 KOs) for his weak resume, which was similar to previously undefeated Top Rank fighter Jose Benavidez Jr (27-1, 18 KOs).
Benavidez Jr was 27-0 at the time that he’d fought Crawford in 2018, and like him, he a lot lesser names on his resume. Top Rank had done an excellent job of building Benavidez’s resume, but he obviously wasn’t as good as his record.
When fans see Crawford’s resume filled with mainly lesser guys, they’re not impressed, and they don’t give him credit for being “great” as he would like to be called.
Crawford says Thurman is the biggest makeable fight
“All of them; every last one of them is a makeable fight,” said Crawford to Brian Custer’s Last Stand podcast on when asked about Ugas, Porter, and Thurman being options. “I don’t see anything standing in the way of any of those three fighters that called me out.
“I feel like Keith Thurman would be the biggest fight and then Shawn Porter, and then Ugas. All three of them are great fighters. I can’t look over any of them. All three of them are great fights to be made. All four if I put Kell Brook in,” said Crawford.
There are makable fights for Crawford but not against all four of the names he’s mentioned. Keith Thurman isn’t someone that will be fighting Crawford in 2020 and probably not even 2021. The guys that Crawford can fight are these fighters:
- Yordenis Ugas
- Kell Brook
- Shawn Porter
I get the impression that Crawford isn’t excited at fighting Ugas or Porter, considering those guys can punch, and they would test his chin. Crawford is getting up there in age now at 32, and he doesn’t have fast hands, and his power is only moderate.
Crawford isn’t a big puncher. If Crawford thought Jose Benanvidez Jr was a tough fight, he’d be impressed with what Porter and Ugas would show him inside the ring.
Terence thought Pacquiao would fight him after inking with Top Rank
“I felt the Pacquiao fight, and all the other names would come looking for me,” said Crawford in explaining his rationale for signing with Top Rank rather than PBC.
“At the same time, I feel like being with PBC or Top Rank should interfere with fights getting made. I already fought PBC fighters before,” said Crawford.
Crawford made the wrong decision in signing with Top Rank and thinking he would get a fight with Pacquiao.
What Crawford may not have realized is that when he signed with Top Rank, he had nothing to offer Pacquiao in terms of popularity. Crawford thought that Pacquiao would fight him after he signed with Top Rank, but they didn’t build him up to make him a marketable fighter so that the Filipino star would want to face him.
When Top Rank boss Bob Arum started making it known years ago that he would like to see Pacquiao and Crawford fight, it would have been a strange situation. Pacquiao would have been helping Crawford become popular at his expense.
Pacquiao had more to gain in terms of money fighting guys like Tim Bradley, Juan Manuel Marquez, Brandon Rios, Floyd Mayweather Jr, and Jessie Vargas. Crawford may not rate some of those fighters, but they were all more famous than him. Pacquiao didn’t duck Crawford. He simply fought the guys that would bring in the fans.
Crawford rates Horn, Benavidez, and Kavaliauskas highly
“When I fought Felix Diaz and John Molina, they were signed with PBC and Al Haymon. Nothing ever stood in the way. In my own defense, I would say ‘Mean Machine,’ Jeff Horn and Benavidez, they were no B-level fighters in my eyes.
“I feel you could have put any one of those fighters up against the top PBC fighters, and they’d give them hell, especially Benavidez. Everybody said Amir Khan was washed up.
“Why can’t you say that Terence Crawford is a great fighter that makes these fighters look that way? Amir Khan was the only one I fought in the welterweight division with a loss. All the rest [Benavidez, Horn, and Mean Machine] were undefeated. No one else is doing that. They’re not taking chances like that,” said Crawford.
It’s hard to take Crawford seriously when he says Jose Benavidez, Jeff Horn, and Egidijus Kavaliauskas would give the top welterweights with Premier Boxing Champions “hell.”
Jeff Horn roughed Pacquiao up
Horn beat Manny Pacquiao by a controversial 12 round decision in 2017 when the Filipino fighter was still with Top Rank. I looked like a robbery in that fight, and you can argue that Horn should have been disqualified for all the fouling he was doing. Crawford gives Horn gives Jeff Horn credit for doing what he needed to do to win.
Ignoring all the fouling that Horn got away with in his home fight against Pacquiao in Brisbane, Australia, PBC fighters Errol Spence, Thurman, Porter, and Danny Garcia would beat him. I don’t think it would be a problem for them to beat Horn.
Nowadays, Horn fights at middleweight, and the future doesn’t look bright for him. When Horn did at welterweight, a lot of boxing fans viewed him as a 154-pounder who would meltdown to 147. The fact that Pacquiao essentially beat Horn says a lot about the talent of the Filipino star.
Crawford rates Benavidez highly, and that’s interesting because this is a fighter that was shot in the leg in 2016.
When Benavidez Jr came back from the gunshot incident, he beat two lower-level opponents in Matthew Strode and Frank Rojas in 2018 before challenging Crawford for his WBO 147-pound title in October 2018.
Crawford stopped the limping Benavidez in the 12th. Nothing from that performance by Benavidez suggested that any of the PBC fighters would have problems beating him.
Before facing Crawford, Benavidez’s best career win was a highly controversial 12 round unanimous decision win over Mauricio Herrera in October 2014. Herrera appeared to beat Benavidez, but the judges scored it for the Top Rank fighter.
