By Chris Williams: Gary Russell Jr says Terence Crawford’s silence on social media makes him think he’s turned into the Cowardly Lion or the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz because he won’t agree to fight him.
Russell Jr also sees WBO welterweight champion Crawford (36-0 27 KOs) as ghost-like with the way he’s disappeared since the last time he called him out.
WBO featherweight champion Russell Jr is willing to fight Crawford in his weight class at 147 without asking for a catchweight the way that other fighters do. Russell Jr is that confident of beating Terence, and he doesn’t feel the need to get a handicap.
Right now, Crawford still doesn’t have an opponent for his next fight this year. Russell Jr is expecting him to fight a “bum,” and he doesn’t want to see that. One of the reasons Crawford hasn’t been able to become a star is the level of opposition he’s been facing since he turned pro in 2008.
Gary: Terence has turned into a ghost
“Damn, Terence. What’s up, slim?” said Gary Russell Jr on social media talking about Crawford.
“At one point you were on your social media, responding about what I said about me punching you in the face and all that, but now I’m trying to mother f*** fight you.
“I don’t see no response, no way. You’ve turned into Casper the friendly ghost what’s up slim. You aren’t answering the call for anybody. I knew you were a b****.
Crawford’s promoters at Top Rank aren’t going to pull the trigger on the Gary Russell Jr fight, even though it would be a markable improvement over the guys he’s been facing. These are Crawford’s last four opponents:
- Egidijus Kavaliauskas
- Amir Khan
- Jose Benavidez Jr
- Jeff Horn
The opposition just hasn’t been there for Crawford, and his popularity is suffering because of that. If Crawford were willing to take some risks by putting his neck on the line by moving up to 154 or 160, he could increase his popularity overnight.
Get in there with Gennady Golovkin or Sergiy Derevyanchenko, and we’d see a lot of fans take an interest in Terence.
Top Rank might not have anyone for Crawford to fight in 2020, which is disappointing because that means he’ll go the entire year without fighting.
Without a live gate, it’s going to be next to impossible for Top Rank to find someone that can face Crawford, and that would be willing to take a fight without a lot of money.
If Terence was a pay-per-view fighter, then Top Rank could get a decent opponent like Kell Brook, Shawn Porter, Veril Ortiz Jr, or Mikey Garcia, but that’s not the case.
Those guys aren’t going to fight Crawford for chickenfeed, and he’s not popular enough to compete on PPV.
Who’s next for Crawford?
“You’re not fighting Keith Thurman. You mean, you’re about to fight a mother f**** bum? Do you want to fight a bum? Nobody wants to see you fight a mother f***** bum. Fight somebody that can really mother f**** fight,” said Russell Jr.
“This weekend, it might be a movie night for my babies and me. I’m going to get my babies to watch ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ man because I swear to God.
“You’re either the Scarecrow. I mean, the ‘Tin Man’ or the mother f*** ‘Lion’ because both of them were suckers. They needed some heart and some courage. So you might need to go holler at the Wiz, slim,” said Russell.
If Crawford does fight in 2020, it’ll probably be one of these guys:
- Sergey Lipinets
- Mikael Zewski
- Luther Clay
Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman accepted a challenge to fight Crawford, but when he asked for $10 million, that cooled down the interest. Thurman (29-1, 22 KOs) is a fighter that would do all the promotional hard work himself by being accessible to the media and hyping the fight night and day.
Crawford wouldn’t have to do anything other than and watch Thurman. Top Rank should look at it as an investment in giving Thurman what he’s asking for. However, if Thurman is given $10 million, Crawford would likely want the same or more. That’s where the real problem would exist. The fight wouldn’t generate $20 million, and Top Rank would end up losing money.
It would be a real shock at this point if we see Crawford return before the pandemic is over. The only exception might be if Arum were able to put together a fight between Crawford and Errol Spence Jr in early 2021, but that’s unlikely.
Spence will face either Manny Pacquiao or Shawn Porter in the first half of next year. Crawford will need to wait until Spence has exhausted all the Premier Boxing Champions welterweights before he turns his attention to him.
Terence should win easily
“I shouldn’t get past the fifth round,” said Gary Jr about how easy it should be for Crawford to defeat him. “I shouldn’t go five with you. If you take the fight, I’m going to the bank, and I’m betting on myself because I’m going to f*** you up. You’re a sucker, man. I just wanted to let the fans know what it was.
“You seen how when it came out that I punched him in the face, he got on social media and he responded to that s***, which was a true fact. He got punched in the f*** face. But now that I’m saying that I’m trying to fight him, and I’m trying to make this s*** happen since I sucker-punched him.
“Let’s do this s*** in front of everybody. Let’s let everybody see this s***. Now crickets [silence]. You better pay attention to what’s going on. There are some suckers in the sport, man. There’s some b*** in the sport, man,” said Russell Jr.
It’s pretty apparent this point that Crawford won’t be fighting this year. It’s almost September, and Arum isn’t saying anything about Crawford’s next fight.
Manny Pacquiao and Kell Brook aren’t going to fight Terence because there’s no money in that fight this year. Without fans and with the economy being shambles due to the coronavirus, there isn’t the money available for Top Rank to get a big name to fight Crawford.
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