By Keith Idec
NEW YORK – Terence Crawford doesn’t have a laminated list or anything.
The undefeated 140-pound champion does, however, have strong opinions on who should occupy the top two spots in pound-for-pound rankings. And no, that doesn’t mean Crawford ranks himself No. 1 among the best boxers in the world.
“Oh no, I’m just No. 2,” Crawford said Tuesday. “Andre Ward is No. 1 pound-for-pound.”
A reporter interjected to ask about Ward’s narrow victory over Sergey Kovalev in their light heavyweight title fight November 19 in Las Vegas.
“Yes, he won that fight [against Kovalev],” said Crawford, who took part in a press conference Tuesday to officially announce his May 20 fight against Felix Diaz at Madison Square Garden. “Kovalev lost the fight. Andre Ward won it, and that’s it.”
Crawford hesitated to round out his top five because he hadn’t given it much thought beyond ranking Ward at No. 1 and himself at No. 2. Eventually, however, the unbeaten WBC/WBO super lightweight champion ranked Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez at No. 3.
The Omaha, Nebraska, native is among many that think Nicaragua’s Gonzalez (46-1, 38 KOs) beat Thailand’s Sor Rungvisai (42-4-1, 38 KOs) on March 18 at Madison Square Garden. Sor Rungvisai won a majority decision to take the WBC world super flyweight championship from Gonzalez and knocked Gonzalez from the top spot on many pound-for-pound lists.
“It would be ‘Chocolatito’ [at No. 3],” Crawford said. “I still rate him high because I thought he won the fight. That’s three. I kinda wanna put [Timothy] Bradley up there. Bradley at No. 4 … he don’t get no credit for what he done did. I just feel like Bradley done beat everybody there is to beat, except Mayweather. And he don’t get no credit. Everybody just look at Bradley like he wasn’t nothing. And I just say, ‘How can you look at this man [like that]? He done took over 140, took over 147 and just lost to [Manny] Pacquiao. How can you do that?”
As for Pacquiao (59-6-2, 38 KOs), who many would argue beat Bradley (32-3-1, 13 KOs, 1 NC) three times, Crawford said, “He up there. I give him like [No.] 6. If I had to [pick a No.] 5, I’d have to give it to Triple-G. [Guillermo] Rigondeaux’s up there. That’s the fight that I wanna see, [Rigondeaux] and Lomachenko.”
Bob Arum, Vasyl Lomachenko’s promoter, told BoxingScene.com recently that Lomachenko (7-1, 5 KOs) is the No. 1 boxer, pound-for-pound, in the sport. Crawford (30-0, 21 KOs) would put the Ukrainian southpaw in his top 10, but not his top five.
“The top 10, I probably can put him in,” Crawford said. “I’m a big fan of Lomachenko, like a real big fan. But when you look at who he fought, I feel like Mikey Garcia destroyed them guys. And Lomachenko, he’s getting more fame and [praise] for [beating] the guys that Mikey Garcia destroyed, that he’s fighting right now. … How can he your No. 1 when he ain’t had nothing but seven fights, eight fights?”
Crawford doesn’t think Gennady Golovkin (37-0, 33 KOs) deserves the top spot on pound-for-pound lists largely because he has fought exclusively at middleweight.
“When I think of pound-for-pound, I’m thinking different weight classes,” Crawford said. “Triple-G has conquered one weight class. And he just fought another champion in the same weight class that was threatening [Daniel Jacobs]. He wouldn’t move up to fight [Carl] Froch. He wouldn’t move up to fight Andre Ward when Andre Ward was at 168.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
