By Chris Williams: Errol Spence Jr let fans know what he thinks of Terence Crawford’s resume in a brief PBC interview in which they were both based to rate each other’s skills and resume ahead of their July 29th super fight on Showtime PPV.
On a 1 to 10 scale, IBF, WBA & WBC welterweight champion Spence (28-0, 22 KOs) rated Crawford’s 15-year professional resume at a lowly 0.5, meaning he doesn’t even see him hitting a 1.
In a perfect world, Crawford would have already fought the best in each weight class that he competed in, as he would be so much more popular than he is today.
Moreover, boxing fans would have an easier time predicting how he’d do against Spence. That hasn’t happened, unfortunately, so fans are clueless, making their prediction based on Crawford’s shaky resume.
Spence also has little faith in Crawford’s punch resistance after seeing him stunned in fights against lesser opposition. David Avanesyan appeared to have Crawford looking dazed & ready to hit the deck last December and witnessed Egidijus Kavaliauskas put the Nebraska native down in their clash in 2019.
Crawford’s last 15 wins:
– David Avanesyan
– Shawn Porter
– Kell Brook
– Egidijus Kavaliauskas
– Amir Khan
– Jose Benavidez Jr
– Jeff Horn
– Julius Indongo
– John Molina Jr
– Viktor Postol
– Hank Lundy
– Dierry Jean
– Thomas Dulorme
– Ray Beltran
– Yuriorkis Gamboa
Spence has been matched tough by his promoters, who weren’t afraid to put him in with the best during his career.
Little 5’5″ Yuriorkis Gamboa staggered Crawford in their 2014 fight and missed finishing him when the round ended.
It’s not a big secret that Crawford (39-0, 30s) has been matched weakly during his entire career, but that doesn’t mean he’ll be out of his league when he gets inside the ring against the more experienced & accomplished Spence.
Crawford is one of many fighters that have been carefully moved during their careers by their well-meaning promoters. If he were an NFL team, he would have been matched against largely 9-7 & 8-8 teams to arrive at a 16-0 record.
We’re going to see on July 29th how Crawford handles being matched against his first elite-level opponent in Spence. Will Crawford be able to handle it and rise to the occasion, or will he get exposed by Spence and shown to be another example of a fighter that took advantage of weak match-making?
While some boxing fans might think Spence is joking, that’s not likely to be the case. He was never been impressed with the level of opposition that Crawford’s former promoters at Top Rank were matching him against, but now that he’s no longer with them, not much has changed.
