The only fights that matter now for Terence Crawford are the young lions in Errol Spence and Shawn Porter.
Last weekend, Terence Crawford faced his biggest test yet in Amir Khan.
However, to the chagrin of boxing fans, the fight was stopped in the 6th round due to a supposed low blow.
Khan decided not to continue after informing his coach he felt incapacitated. The fact that he didn’t take the full five minutes afforded him has angered many fans who felt he might have recovered.
Still, his coach Virgil Hunter did what he thought would protect his fighter, which is his main job.
The fact remains that during the fight, Crawford was too much for Khan. He dropped him in the first round and although there were glimpses of Khan figuring out how to counter Crawford, it was certainly the “Bud” show throughout.
It’s A Young Man’s Game
Crawford, a throwback fighter a la Marvin Hagler, is mean and accurate. As such, he needs to only face comparable opponents that will push him past his boundaries.
Although Khan is only one year older than Crawford, he went pro three years earlier and has a plethora of hard ring experience over him.
He had been knocked out three times prior to the Crawford TKO, once by Canelo Alvarez which was so brutal it seemed like a career trajectory game changer.
The only fights that matter now for Crawford are the young lions in Errol Spence and Shawn Porter. Of course, Spence is the fight and according to Crawford’s promoter, Bob Arum, the only hold up is Spence’s adviser Al Haymon.
However, boxing politics aside, Crawford fighting anyone else except Spence next will be a detriment to his career.
Boxing has experienced a major uplift with the coterie of broadcast and streaming distributors releasing the content.
Still, boxing doesn’t benefit from matching fighters that are gradually aging out of the big fights.
Although Manny Pacquiao is still in mix with the WBA welterweight strap, he is on his swansong run. The fight would be amazing though due to Manny’s tenacity and Crawford’s relentlessness.
Still, if Haymon and Arum don’t make the Crawford vs. Spence fight it will continue the oft overused adage that “it is bad for boxing”, as a sport that is seeing such an uplift shouldn’t continue to cannibalize itself with meaningless matchups.
