Terence Crawford's defensive skills

Decent, which he can improve if he focuses on it. But he’s got a great chin and likes to punch with you.

More entertaining than Floyd, but not a better fighter. The fans aren’t stupid, Crawford hasn’t fought that many great world class boxers. That’s why he’s not a mega PPV superstar. He’s talented and skilled, but he’s already 32 and his best win is against, Gamboa. Gamboa wouldn’t even crack the top 10 of Floyd’s best opponents. Floyd is a once in a generation type of boxer whose style was more of a surgeon in the ring with the ability to systematically dissecting his opponents best in-ring assets. The only thing that Crawford does better than Floyd is being able to switch stance more fluidly and having a better killer instinct to go for the kill when he has his opponent hurt. As far as skill for skill, he’s a tier below Floyd. I agree BUT Floyd had willing opponents. Terrence has a bundle of fighters NOT willing to fight him. PBC should be embarrassed honestly

Bud has good footwork and is a great counterpuncher. Therefore he has a good defense. In addition, he is a very accurate puncher who chooses his punch selection very wisely.

he is willing to trade which leaves him open but his defense is pretty good

More entertaining than Floyd, but not a better fighter. The fans aren’t stupid, Crawford hasn’t fought that many great world class boxers. That’s why he’s not a mega PPV superstar. He’s talented and skilled, but he’s already 32 and his best win is against, Gamboa. Gamboa wouldn’t even crack the top 10 of Floyd’s best opponents. Floyd is a once in a generation type of boxer whose style was more of a surgeon in the ring with the ability to systematically dissecting his opponents best in-ring assets. The only thing that Crawford does better than Floyd is being able to switch stance more fluidly and having a better killer instinct to go for the kill when he has his opponent hurt. As far as skill for skill, he’s a tier below Floyd. I agree, not even sure why the hell that guy is comparing Crawford to Floyd. Crawford should only be compared to his contemporaries like Spence, Thurman, Porter, ect.

He looked highly skilled in defensive terms against Postol and Ricky Burns, and maybe to an extent against Jeff Horn. He gets hit a lot by shots you wouldn't expect a guy of his caliber (fighting the competition he does) to be getting hit with. Kavaliauskas, Benavidez, Gamboa, and even Hank freakin' Lundy all found home with shots multiple times. Somebody pointed out that Crawford is multi styled and I agree, really depends how aggressive or defensive he chooses to fight but it is still troubling to see him getting hit hard by lower level competition. I'd say that his defensive style (when he chooses to fight in this manner) heavily relies on his footwork and length.

He’s not a defensive artist, but he’s above average in that department. He knows how to control range and distance, but he makes a lot of defensive mistakes that only a well-disciplined sharp-shooting counter-puncher can capitalize on.

Terrence COULD be better defensively IF he fought safer, but he prefers to hurt and stop opponents. That's part of what makes him more fun than Floyd because he hurts you and CAN BE HURT. Terrence is a great, great fighter. What's funny is HE'S MORE ENTERTAINING than Floyd, but gets none of the PPV buys Floyd got More entertaining than Floyd, but not a better fighter. The fans aren’t stupid, Crawford hasn’t fought that many great world class boxers. That’s why he’s not a mega PPV superstar. He’s talented and skilled, but he’s already 32 and his best win is against, Gamboa. Gamboa wouldn’t even crack the top 10 of Floyd’s best opponents. Floyd is a once in a generation type of boxer whose style was more of a surgeon in the ring with the ability to systematically dissecting his opponents best in-ring assets. The only thing that Crawford does better than Floyd is being able to switch stance more fluidly and having a better killer instinct to go for the kill when he has his opponent hurt. As far as skill for skill, he’s a tier below Floyd.

I was thinking about making a thread on this myself. Crawford's best defensive and overall performance was against Postol. Outside of that, he hasn't shown himself to be an elite defensive fighter. I think he's better than average, but he gets hit clean too much. And I'm not talking about a jab landing here and there. I'm talking about getting hit with power punches right on the button.

He only gets hit clean when he chooses to fight aggressive. He won't back down from a fight which gives Spence and Porter somthing to exploit....... Drag him into a war

How do you guys rate Bud’s defensive skills? I honestly think he has holes in his defense and he seems to get hit with unnecessary shots these day. To me he's always been more of an offensive fighter who likes to scrap rather than a boxing defense wizard, although he is highly skilled with a mean streak. Always likened Bud to Mark "Too Sharp" Johnson. I give his defense a B. Terrence COULD be better defensively IF he fought safer, but he prefers to hurt and stop opponents. That's part of what makes him more fun than Floyd because he hurts you and CAN BE HURT. Terrence is a great, great fighter. What's funny is HE'S MORE ENTERTAINING than Floyd, but gets none of the PPV buys Floyd got

Porter likely stops him, that`s what I think.

One thing that confuses a lot of people is the fact that Bud doesn't use one style, one strategy, etc. He gets hit when he's willing to trade. He's a ghost when he wants to be. Look at the Postol fight. Here's a guy that had just retired Mathysse and he couldn't find Crawford. Bud has that much control over what he's doing. You can make the same observations about Loma and the fights in which he got hit a lot (like his last one). Elite fighters sometimes choose to trade. As for a more direct answer, I'd give him an 'A' on defense. Not perfect but excellent.

No one else has any opinions on Bud's defense? It's not the best but certainly not too bad. He's just good at giving the illusion that he's a slick fighter when he's really not.

He’s there to be hit with good timing, but that’s because he’s happy to open up and be aggressive. He’s good to watch for that reason. He’d certainly not some defensive wizard, nor does he try to be really. His defence is solid enough most of the time though. His overall skill set is very high because he does so much really well. I don’t think he obviously excels in one area over others, and he isn’t lacking badly in one area either.

Good. But he enjoys pulling back and often gets hit with straight right hand. Its like he assumes he can get away with it until you(the opponent) shows him he cant.

He's always taken clean shots and part of the reason is indeed due to him being as aggressive as he is. Crawford is going in there to hurt you. Look at the Dulorme, Gamboa, Benavidez and Mean Machine fights. Took some FLUSH shots in all those fights. He is also susceptible to losing some early rounds, but no one has yet won any rounds in the 2nd half of the fights against him.