Why Crawford will never be #1: The fighters he avoids

Terence Crawford responded to Shakur Stevenson coming to his defense, saying that “every top fighter” rates Budd #1, but the writers consider him #2 pound-for-pound. Instead of being modest, Crawford said, “They hated all the greats.

Lack of elite victories

Crawford isn’t a great fighter because he hasn’t beaten any of the elite at 154, 147, 140 or 135. There are fighters at 154 to 168 that Budd could fight for the #1 spot, but he won’t fight them because the end result would be negative.

NOT every top fighter rates Crawford #1 or #2 pound for pound because his resume is too thin to be in the top two of the rankings. To be the No. 1 pound-for-pound, Crawford would need a deeper resume of high-level wins than he has.

The road to #1

Bakhram Murtazaliev
Janibek Alimhanuli
David Benavidez
David Morrell
Osley Iglesias
Diego Pacheco

If Crawford could beat those guys, no one would argue that he doesn’t deserve the No. 1 pound-for-pound ranking. But he hasn’t fought any of those guys, and he doesn’t intend to. So Crawford shouldn’t be anywhere near the No. 1 spot in the pound-for-pound rankings or the No. 2. Given his lackluster resume, he should be around 10 to 15 below.

They hated all great men. Nothing new under the sun. https://t.co/TUVCpoGaKsv

— Terence Crawford (@terencecrawford) December 19, 2024

Crawford’s (41-0, 31 KO) only notable win on his 16-year resume is a washed-out, car-crash, rusted-out Errol Spence ring. Former unified light heavyweight champion Spence is coming off a 14-month layoff, lost 50 pounds in training camp and hasn’t looked his best since his car accident four years earlier.

Other than that win against the inactive, exhausted shell of Errol, there is no one, and he was nothing like he once was after he crashed his Ferrari in a high-speed accident on October 10, 2019. The Ferrari was a pile of junk from their car crash

The quality of the opposition

– Errol Spence: After the car accident
– Sean Porter: End of career
– Israil Madrimov: Razor close
– Kell Brook: Washed
– Amir Khan: Same as above
– Ricky Burns: Late in his career
– Yuriorkis Gamboa: Two divisions above his weight
– Jose Benavides Jr.: gunshot wound