By Allan Fox: Trainer Brian ‘BoMac’ McIntyre says Errol Spence Jr and his team “messed up” by waiting until now to face Terence Crawford because he’s filled out and is now more dangerous than he was when he first moved up to the welterweight division in 2018.
IBF, WBA & WBC champion Spence feels that it wasn’t worth it to fight Crawford when he first moved up to 147 five years ago because there would have been less interest from fans, and all the titles wouldn’t have been at stake.
It’s a giant leap in imagination to say that the 36-year-old Crawford (39-0, 30 KOs) is a better fighter now than he was in 2018, as he looks a lot older and slower, and the mobility he had back at 31 is now absent.
Has Crawford improved since 2018?
Crawford doesn’t look like a better fighter now than he was five or even three years ago. The vicious witches’ brew mix: Age + inactivity = decreased performance.
Crawford needs to stumble upon the Fountain of Youth and drink or bathe in the mythical spring to restore his lost vitality for this fight—the perfect remedy for Crawford’s aging.
Terence’s opposition since 2018
– David Avanesyan
– Shawn Porter
– Kell Brook
– Egidijus Kavaliauskas
– Amir Khan
– Jose Benavidez Jr
– Jeff Horn
BoMac’s problem is that he’s morphed into becoming a cheerleader & fan of Crawford rather than an actual coach that can teach like Spence’s trainer Derrick James.
Even with a good coach, Crawford is still aging rapidly, and his habit of fighting once a year will continue to erode his skill set moving forward. For an older fighter to stay on top, they’ve got to be active, fighting two to three times a year against quality opposition.
Crawford hasn’t done that. He’s only been fighting once a year since 20020, and his opposition has been poor going all the way back to 2014. Since his one fight against a talented Yuriorkis Gamboa in 2014, Crawford has fought lesser opposition in record-padding fights.
Is Spence making a mistake fighting Terence?
“As long as Errol brings his A-game, I know for a fact that you’re going to see a performance that you’ve never seen out of Terence,” said Brian ‘Bomac’ McIntyre to Fighthype.
If Spence brings his A-game, Crawford is in trouble on July 29th because he doesn’t have enough youth to contend with Errol.
“People are going to be like, ‘Wow, that’s why he’s considered one of the best in the world,” said BoMac about the vision he’s had, dreaming of a cheerful fairy tale outcome for Crawford’s fight with Spence.
“They’re going to move the goalpost, but as long as Terence accomplishes what he wants to accomplish, I’m fine,” said BoMac.
“I don’t give a damn about what anyone thinks about after this fight is over with. He’s a legitimate welterweight now,” said BoMac about Crawford. “This is where they messed up at. They should have got him when he first moved up to welterweight before he cleared the division out.”
It’s fair to say that if Crawford fought Crawford in 2018, he would have crushed him with pressure, power & his fast pace. Crawford was still thin and not powerful enough to stand and fight Errol.
“As he moved up, he’s getting bigger & bigger, and as he’s getting bigger, he’s getting wiser,” BoMac said about Crawford. “That’s the great part about going into this fight. His ring IQ is elevated, and his weight is elevated in the right way.”
BoMac sees a false reality when he looks at what Crawford has become over the year, blind to the aging & deterioration in his game. He sees what he wants to see, which is a hallucination that he’s dreamed up. Crawford isn’t improving. He’s getting older and is not the fighter he was five years ago.
“Not just putting on weight. I’m talking stronger, faster, meaner. I don’t think much would change. He can fight at 147 or 154 lbs right now. It wouldn’t make a difference,” said BoMac.
Has Crawford improved since 2018?
“For him to come back and help Bud, that’s great because Bud has always been there for him in big fights and camp,” said BoMac to Fight Hub TV about Shakur Stevenson.
“Shakur coming out for a week to help Bud; that’s brotherly love. You can’t get anybody to emulate Terence. There isn’t anyone out there. You can bring four guys out. How long are they going to last?”
It’s interesting that Crawford brought Shakur Stevenson to his training camp to help him for the Spence fight, which suggests that he’s worried, and it’s not exactly a vote of confidence in BoMac.
When you see a fighter do that, it means they don’t have complete faith in their trainer. If this writer were BoMac, I wouldn’t have seen it as a positive for me if Shakur Stevenson came to training camp to give help.
“It’s going to be some good tough rounds at the beginning, but Terence is going to walk away with it,” said BoMac. “He’s going to download what Errol has brought to the table, and then he’s going to walk away with the fight.”
It’s not just going to be tough for Crawford at the beginning. Spence is going to make it a terrifying nightmare for Crawford, and it’ll get worse as the rounds progress.
“We don’t know how strong he [Spence] is. They said Shawn Porter was strong, and you saw Terence push his a** around,” said BoMac. “We don’t know. We’ll find out when we get in there. Just know we’re ready to go.
“I know he’s got his mental game together. I know he’s got his spiritual game together. He’s been having a good time. His camp has been good. Everything is hitting on all cylinders. We’re ready.
“When I get out of the corner, once I come down from the stair, I’m going to sit in the fans’ seat so I can watch it as a fan instead of sitting in the corner. Then I’m going to jump my a** up and go back in the corner and tell him [Crawford] to finish beating his a**,” said BoMac.
