By Matt Lieberman: WBO welterweight champion Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford is ready to follow in Muhammad Ali’s footsteps in showing how great he is on November 20th when he defends against mandatory ‘Showtime’ Shawn Porter on ESPN+ pay-per-view at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, in Las Vegas.
After more than a decade as a professional, Crawford (37-0, 28 KOs) is ready to show his talent off against his first meaningful opponent in former IBF/WBC welterweight champion Porter (31-3-1, 17 KOs).
Crawford has been toiling away in almost obscurity up until now, fighting against older fighters long past their primes and B-level opposition on ESPN. Bud finally is getting a chance to show his ability against Porter, and he can’t wait.
Porter, 33, has a lot of experience, having fought Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman, Danny Garcia, Paulie Malignaggi, Adrien Broner, Yordenis Ugas, Devon Alexander, and Ray Robinson.
This is a fight that a lot of boxing fans aren’t quite sure who will win. Although Crawford is a highly rated pound-for-pound guy, he hasn’t fought good opposition to say whether he’s for real or not.
Crawford ready to show his greatness
“I love this fight. Terence Crawford because he’s being ducked by all the other welterweights in the world. It has to do with networks and promoters. They’re siloed in different places,” said Max Kellerman on Max on Boxing.
What Ali say? “Ima show you how great I am” November 20th the world will see.
— Terence Crawford (@terencecrawford) October 1, 2021
“Terence Crawford is here on ESPN with Top Rank. The guys across the street won’t cross the street to fight him. They hide behind promotional and network issues, but it sure seems like people think he’s going to hang an L on their guy, so they avoid him.
“So because of that, he hasn’t been able to fight a who’s who like Canelo Alvarez has, and he doesn’t have the resume. But many people think he’s the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world until recently when Canelo Alvarez bulked up his resume.
The many different fighters that could have fought Crawford at 147 have chosen not to because they view him as more trouble than he’s worth.
“In the meantime, the one guy that would cross the street is Showtime Shawn Porter, and that’s not a surprise,” said Kellerman. “Shawn Porter is all fighter. Everything he said about himself is true. There’s no such thing as more heart than this guy.
“He’s talented, he’s got some fast twitches, he’s got some punching power. He can box when you want to brawl. The biggest fight in boxing would be Errol Spence vs. Terence Crawford. His [Porter] narrow loss to Errol Spence was as close as it comes to a great fight.
“There is no guarantee, just because Crawford is considered the better fighter and I consider him the better fighter too, that he needs Shawn Porter. Beating Shawn Porter is a tall order for anyone in the world. This is a great fight,” said Kellerman.
Porter has a way of forcing fighters to fight the way he wants them to, and it could be the case with Crawford. He may need to brawl with Porter on the inside and hope for the best.