By Chris Williams: Terence Crawford attempted to clear the record on Wednesday in discussing how Gary Russell Jr punched him in the face years ago when they were in the amateurs.
Russell Jr (31-1, 18 KOs) says he’s ready to move up in weight four weight classes to face Crawford, and he’s ready o make it happen.
The two fighters have different stories about what led up to featherweight Russell Jr socking Crawford in the mouth talking aggressively.
Russell Jr says Crawford got in his face one day and started mouthing off, so he swatted him. What surprised Russell is how Crawford grabbed his jaw and didn’t throw a counter-punch in retaliation.
Crawford isn’t too game about wanting to fight the 32-year-old Gary, saying that they can fight outside of the ring. As bad as Crawford’s opposition has been throughout his 12-year pro career, Russell Jr would be a huge upgrade.
Crawford discusses how Russell socked him
“I’ve got to get some facts straight,” said Crawford on social media. “I hear some people mentioning my name out their mouth and putting out some false information.
“It’s Gary Russell; he’s a little dude. Let’s get to this Gary Russell situation. I see this dude on his high horse about socking me. I’m going to tell you the whole story. If I’m lying, you can go to Demetrius Andrade, and you can go to Rau’shee Warren.
“When I was 18, me and Gary Russell got into a confrontation. I asked the coach to put him in the ring with me. At the time, I was fighting at 132. Gary Russell was fighting at like 119.
“The coach didn’t want no parts of putting me in the ring with Gary Russell because he already knew what was going to happen. I was going to punish his little a**. That s*** got X’d out real quick because Gary Russell was the prima donna of the USA team.
“He was coming up in the amateurs, as you already know. Me and Gary Russell had words prior to Carl Darden sparring. Me and Carl Darden sparred, and me and Carl Darden had words,” said Crawford.
So from what Crawford is saying, he sounds a little bitter about Russell Jr being the top of the food chain on the USA amateur team. It seems like Crawford wasn’t given the same red carpet treatment as the talented Amateur Russell Jr.
It shouldn’t be a shock that Russell would be treated well, as he was the better amateur than Crawford.
Terence says Gary Russell Jr sucker-punched him
“We had competitive sparring. so we had to stop sparring because we got too heated in the sparring match,” continued Crawford. “So Dan pulled us out. Yeah, he got the better of me.
“He out-boxed me and got the better of me. He did his thing that day. But not to mention, Mark Davis beat the f*** out of Gary Russell that day. That’s why he really got mad.
“After the sparring match, he tried to say, ‘Yeah, he was getting you, Terence.’ And I replied, ‘let’s not talk because Mark Davis beat you’re a**, so what you mean?’ Then he gets up, and he’s talking, and I told him to his face, ‘I will smash you, little guy.’
“I’m talking to coach Dan. ‘Coach Dan put us in the ring.’ Boom! The next thing I know, he socked me. Cool, I ate it. I didn’t fall or nothing. He had a clearcut shot. I didn’t fall or nothing. I looked at him, ‘I’m going to kill you.‘
“They grabbed me. ‘Don’t grab me, let me go.’ Tell me this. How can a person that’s not even on the team? He [Gary Russell Jr] wasn’t in the Pan Am. He wasn’t fighting in the Pan Am,” said Crawford.
It sounds like a communication problem between Russell Jr and Crawford. What Crawford fails to comprehend is when he said “I will smash you, little guy,” he was waving a red flag in front of a bull. As such, it’s not surprising that Russell tagged Crawford in the face.
If Russell was worried about Crawford hitting him, then it makes sense for him to react the way he did.
Crawford got kicked off the team
“How can a person that’s not even on the team hit me and I get sent home?” Terence asked. “Tell me why I got sent home? Why I got kicked off the Pan Am? I was #1 in the Nation at that time. I was #1 USA.
“Why did I get kicked off the team? Why did they send me home and kept me there? These are questions that we need to ask. Because they know I was going to f*** his little a** up.
“Now, if I don’t like what he’s saying, he’ll come up to 147 and fight me,” said Crawford about Russell. “I laughed at that s***. Dude, we don’t even got tonight in a ring.
“You socked me off guard and couldn’t drop me. If we were to fight right now on the streets, I’d break your f*** neck, and that’s on my kids. You know it, I know it and the whole world knows it.
“I’m not talking about fighting in the ring. If you and me were to fight outside, I would break your neck. Come on, man. You’re still at 122, bro. You need to be worried about fighting those little guys, chasing Lomachenko, the one that beat the f*** out of you,” said Crawford.
Without knowing what went into the management for USA amateur team’s decision for booting Crawford from the team, it could be his death threat that he admits to making to Russell Jr when he said ‘I’m going to kill you.‘ I can see how a comment like that would lead to a fighter being booted from a team.
If Crawford had merely reacted by calling Russell Jr a name, then he might not have been sent home. It’s interesting that are all these years, Crawford still doesn’t have a clue for why he was removed from the team. It seems pretty obvious to me why he was removed.
Crawford to Russell Jr: You’re out of your league
“I actually had you winning for that fight. I was actually pulling for your b*** a**, but he beat your a** though,” said Crawford. “He beat the f*** out of you. So don’t be saying my name how you sucker punched me and tried to get some fame off my name, my dude.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5NycCn9TH0
“We all know what happened. If you’re not going to tell the true story, then don’t open your f*** mouth, man. You got a good following, and everybody wants to feel like everybody is ducking Gary Russell.
“You do got a lot of people ducking you. I mean, you’re a great talent. I’m not going to take nothing away from your talent. And you’re a tremendous champion. But at the same time, you’re stepping up with something that I don’t feel you can compete with.
“You’re out of your league, little man. Keep my name out of your mouth, keep doing what you’re doing, and I wish you nothing but the best,” said Crawford to Russell.
Vasiliy Lomachenko didn’t “beat the f*** out” out of Russell Jr, as Crawford says. The fight was actually very, very close with Lomachenko winning by the scores 116-112, 116-112, and 114-114. Boxing News 24 had the fight scored a draw, which is what I had it as well.
Russell Jr gave Lomachenko pure trouble in the first six rounds, and he looked like the better fighter. In the second half, Lomachenko got on his bike and controlled most of the last six rounds.
Terence didn’t fight back
“None of you got Crawford’s coach, somebody that wasn’t up there at the Olympic training center talking about I snuck him,” said Russell Jr. “Terence, stop this s***, man. You came to me, and you were talking regulars out your mouth, very aggressive.
“And you got punched in the f**** face. They made you the pound-for-pound. You’re supposed to be pound-for-pound. You’re a f**** fighter. If you got punched in the face, you got punched in the face and grabbed your mouth.
“You grabbed your face, and then people came in between. Don’t act like you attempted to fight back. Stop faking. And you’re supposed to a world-class fighter from the pound-for-pound list.
“Don’t counter-punching count for something? You should be able to take a shot and fire something right back in response. That’s what boxers do. Come on, man. Get the f*** out of here. Don’t try and spin it and act like somebody snuck you.
“You came to me to ask questions, and when I answered your questions, you wanted to do all this loud yelling like a rough tough like you about that life. I punched you on the f**** face. That’s it, that’s all.
“You grabbed your mouth. Stop faking like somebody jumped in and broke it up. I’m not one of them suckers. Stop playing with me, Terence. You know what time it is. And you know me from the amateurs. You know how it is. Don’t play those games, man.
It is kind of strange that Crawford didn’t even try and fight back when Russell Jr hit him, but at the same time, it makes sense. Russell was the far more talented amateur, and perhaps Crawford didn’t like his chances of fighting him.
Crawford had just been worked over in sparring, so his confidence wasn’t at the level that it would have needed to be for him to think of hitting Russell Jr back.
Gary says Crawford trying to save face
“I just wanted to let you know what really happened because you got people [Crawford] out here trying to save face, acing like ‘he snuck up, and he did this,” Gary Russell Jr said. “Nobody sneaked you. You came to me asking questions, getting reckless out the mouth.
“And you thought I wasn’t going to punch you in the f*** face? You tripping. Play those games with somebody else, man. And his coach wasn’t even there. He doesn’t know what happened.
“Ask everybody else what happened. Ask all the people that are competing in the sport of boxing right that was there and seen what happened. How about the reporters hollering at Sadam Ali?
“And how about one of the reporters hollering at Demetrius Andrade? How about one of the reporters asking one of them what really happened. Since the mother-f****s lying.
“You’re the one that’s bluffing, sucker. Stop this. I’ve been a monster since I was young. I’ve been a monster since I was a dog. Ask my man Andre Berto about me. Terence stop faking. Ain’t Nobody sneak you, man.
“You shouldn’t have come to another grown a** man, talking reckless with a whole lot of hostility our your mouth. That’s not how people do business, man,” said Russell Jr in letting Crawford have it,” Russell Jr. said.
Only Crawford knows why he’s firing back with his own version of what happened on the day that Russell swatted him in the face.
The guys that reinforce Crawford’s version of the story are Darden and Demetrius Andrade.
Crawford was never in the upper echelon
“He’s lying like a mother-f****,” said Russell Jr on social media in response to Terence Crawford’s comments about being sucker-punched. “They going to tell you what happened. You heard what he said; I was the ‘prima-donna.’
“What that means is I was that guy. They say a prima donna is someone that is supposed to be real good but don’t amount to something. I was that good. I was that guy. Terence Crawford, he was #2 or #3.
“He was never in the upper echelon when we were in the amateurs. He was never that #1 guy. No one ever ran the amateurs other than me and Rau’shee Warren. It’s all the people he just named. Me and Rau’shee Warren. I was that guy.
“Nobody could say that anybody got out on me in the amateurs. Nobody could f*** with me. I was the only one that was #1 every year. Ask Terence Crawford. He didn’t make the Olympic team because he couldn’t make it with the best of the best.
“And he had to turn pro before everyone else got a head start because he couldn’t make it. He couldn’t make the Olympic team because he wasn’t good enough. Every time you say my name, I’m on your a**. Stop playing.
“Yeah, we did have words. Tell them what happened. You turning into a sucker, man. Tell everybody what really happened. I’m glad your saving face,” said Russell Jr.
What Russell Jr says about Crawford not being in the upper echelon in the amateurs isn’t surprising. If he was one of the elite guys, he would have made the Olympic squad.
Russell challenges Terence to fight him
“Everybody thinks you’ll beat me, so let’s give the fans what they want to see,” said Russell Jr to Crawford. “Since you can beat me and your this and that and all that, make the fight.
“Let’s make something happen. I will meet you at 147. I will f*** you up. Play those games with somebody else, Terence. You know what it is. You got people in your camp that has my contact information personally.
“We don’t got to do social media. We don’t got to do none of this. Tell them to make the fight happen. Tell them to call me and let’s figure out a way. We know there’s a whole lot of politics that are watering the sport down.
“They say you, me, and Errol Spence are the realist boxers in the game. Let’s do some real s*** and cross the bridge and take away the politics and bull-s*** and give the fans what they want to see.
“Since you feel some sort of way, fight me. Since you feel some sort of way about what happened, fight me. You’re a sucker. Stop playing, man. I ain’t even going to put it out there, but I do remember walking up to the bleachers on you.
“Go and talk to the people that he mentioned. You’re trying to manipulate the people. You can’t manipulate me, slim. Stop this s***. Get the f*** out of here,” said Russell Jr.
Crawford can’t make a fight between him and Russell Jr because his promoters at Top Rank are the ones that select his opponents. Also, Russell Jr is with PBC and fights on Showtime and Fox. Crawford fights on ESPN, and that makes it impossible to set up a fight between him and Russell Jr.