By Keith Idec
Floyd Mayweather Jr. doesn’t think there’s any doubt about who is the best boxer in the sport.
“The No. 1 fighter in boxing right now, hands down, is Terence Crawford,” Mayweather told FightHype.com in an interview posted over the weekend. “The pound-for-pound, top fighter in boxing right now is Terence Crawford.”
The 30-year-old Crawford (32-0, 23 KOs) most recently was the undisputed 140-pound champion, but gave up all of his titles to move up to 147 pounds. In his next fight, likely to take place sometime in April, the Omaha, Nebraska, native is expected to challenge Australia’s Jeff Horn (18-0-1, 11 KOs) for the WBO welterweight title in his 147-pound debut.
Crawford, also a former WBO lightweight champion, is ranked No. 1 on BoxingScene.com’s pound-for-pound list.
ESPN.com ranks WBO super featherweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko (10-1, 8 KOs) at No. 1 on its list, two spots ahead of the third-rated Crawford. The Ring magazine rates Crawford at No. 2 on its list, one spot below IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (37-0-1, 33 KOs).
The 40-year-old Mayweather (50-0, 27 KOs), who retired following his 10th-round stoppage of UFC star Conor McGregor on August 26, believes Crawford is most worthy of the top pound-for-pound spot he long occupied.
“Terence Crawford, I just truly believe – he doesn’t have to be under my company for me to give a guy props,” Mayweather said. “I’m not like that. If he’s ever free and he wants to go to another company, I would love to work with him, because I know what I can do to take him to that next level. … Raw talent, hell of a fighter. But there’s a lot of hell-of-a-fighters out there. And he’s one of the guys that’s – he’s a mother*cker. And one thing I like about him is, I mean, he reminds me of a young Floyd Mayweather. He can fight his ass off. And that’s what I like about him.
“He’s a lot older than I was when he really started getting his props because I turned professional as a teenager. My career blossomed so fast because in under two years, I fought for a world title, which I truly believe I could’ve fought for a world title in my first fight. But it was all about patience. I’m glad I had patience. There was no rush. I [was] only 19 years old.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
