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NOTES FROM THE BOXING UNDERGROUND: TERENCE CRAWFORD - GREAT FIGHTER, GREAT TARGET

By Paul Magno | October 15, 2018
NOTES FROM THE BOXING UNDERGROUND: TERENCE CRAWFORD - GREAT FIGHTER, GREAT TARGET

If you’re one of the small handful of boxing fans taking to social media and website comment sections with the “Terence Crawford is a fraud” argument, you very clearly don’t know shit about boxing.

It’s fair to point to a somewhat slim resume for “Bud” and also fair to criticize his recent business decision to embrace big Top Rank/ESPN money at the expense of being able to make the biggest fights in the welterweight division.

But if you don’t look at the Omaha, Nebraska native and see a special skill set backed up by elite-level ability and a mind built for the sport, then you just have no idea what the hell you’re watching.

Last Saturday night at the CHI Health Center in Omaha, Crawford once again proved that winning is his business and that he can achieve that goal in any number of ways. 

Not only did Jose Benavidez Jr’s bravado and big talk not get inside Crawford’s head, none of it seemed to register one little bit. The defending WBO welterweight champ slowly solved the riddle presented by the challenger’s size and particular stylistic quirks and then began to chip away at the 26-year-old. By the last few rounds, Benavidez had been shut down completely with his only offense consisting of shaking his head and flashing derisive smirks at Crawford’s landed shots.

Crawford never lost his cool and never deviated from his best path to victory. With just about 50 seconds left in the twelfth and final round, he unleashed a brutal uppercut that dropped Benavidez hard and left him buzzed when he got to his feet. 30 seconds later, Crawford closed the show and the fight was over. 

Benavidez didn’t perform poorly; he was just not on Crawford’s level. There’s no shame in being a full step below a true top-of-generation elite. A mismatch was predictable from the moment the fight was signed, but it remained to be seen just how Crawford would choose to operate. To Benavidez’s credit, he was not rolled over by the superior fighter, although maybe the fight played out as it did because Crawford decided to fight as he did. 

At any rate, Crawford did what he had to do and looked good doing it. 

But in the aftermath of the Benavidez win, the “what’s next for Bud” question brings nothing but more questions. If Benavidez had been able to bring a war to Omaha, we’d surely be hearing about a rematch. There was no such war, though, and now Top Rank must once again wrangle up a reasonable opponent for the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world and then try to create some sort of back story rivalry to sell a title bout where the “B-Side” is simply not good enough to beat or even be competitive with the champ.

You can’t blame Crawford for grasping at the reported 8-figure deal offered to him to be the cornerstone of Top Rank’s ESPN presence. Boxing is, ultimately, a means to provide for one’s family. However, you also can’t feel too sorry for him when online antagonists take shots at the lack of true competitors on his resume. 

Still, all things considered, each and every Terence Crawford fight is a joy to watch. In the absence of war, a virtuoso performance from a master is the next best thing.

Quick (S)hits:

-- I mentioned this in a previous article of mine, but I’m calling it now—Deonaty Wilder will knock Tyson Fury out. Fury is not as good a boxer as he seems to think he is. He’s more of an awkward presence that throws opposition off and Wilder is so awkward, himself, that Fury will simply not have that edge. Fury will get clipped, hurt, and have no firepower of his own to answer back.

-- Oleksandr Usyk will walk right through Tony Bellew on November 10 in defending his four cruiserweight belts. It’s going to be ugly.

-- Yuriorkis Gamboa and Juan Manuel Lopez are co-headliners of a November 10 pay-per-view in Miami, clearly hoping to build towards a future showdown. Would people still care about a Gamboa-Lopez bout seven years after it would’ve mattered? I’d watch, but, to be fair, I’d watch most everything, anyway. Just keep that fight off PPV. Something like Gamboa-Lopez has “streaming app” written all over it. 

Got something for Magno? Send it here: paulmagno@theboxingtribune.com

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