Why does Terence Crawford have so many detractors?

[Sheldon312]

These guys weren't legends by 29, Camacho has never been a legend, Wildred (I assume that's Wilfred) wouldn't be considered an atg.

Based off resume and skills by age 29, yes, Floyd could be considered a legend. And what are you talking about? Wilfred is arguably the greatest defensive fighter ever. He schooled Duran and gave Hearns and Leonard a run for the money. He also is the youngest world champion ever I believe. He would be P4p 1 in today's era. He would basically be a better and bigger version of Rigo.

[The Smash]

My problem with Crawford is that he could easily fight at Welterweight with other world class fighters, but he chooses to stay at 140lbs which has no world class fighters and is currently the weakest division in boxing.

[Scipio2009]

All he does is go out and demolish his opponents. I hear people saying TC should move up because of his height, size, and reach. Was Postol asked to move up before fighting Crawford? He's 3 inches taller than Crawford with a 3½ inch reach advantage. Why weren't people demanding he move up for the same reasons? The same with Golovkin, nobody ever demanded that he moved to 168.



Is it because he's black? Because that's what it seems like.

First of all, who are all of these detractors? Maybe I haven't been around long enough, but I've yet to see anyone sitting around and openly hating on Terence Crawford or his skills, so there's that. Being tied to Arum has definitely put a wet blanket on the folks who would be championing him, but that's another conversation.

Secondly, being tied to Bob Arum doesn't help. Beyond any talk of the fan beef between Floyd and Arum, Top Rank's continued insistence on only pursuing in-house fights has continuedto leave this false barrier between Top Rank fighters and the fights that the boxing audience could actually get interested in seeing.

Lastly, and this is more present with Tim Bradley, it is starting to appear as if Terence Crawford is content with things the way they are. Crawford's next big fight to look towards is against Top Rank's Manny Pacquiao; every other matchup that will be considered for Crawford will either involve a Top Rank-signed/affiliated fighter (Zanfer still works as a secondary to Top Rank in the US) or an international fighter with no ties to the US (so that Top Rank still controls the US TV). Any talk beyond those key parameters is simply talk.

Regardless of the weight that Crawford chooses to fight at (Indongo, Ohara Davies, Jack Catterall, Tyrone Nurse, Jose Ramirez, Regis Prograis, and others are all talents coming along at 140lbs), he's shown himself to be a really really good fighter, separated from a lot of interesting fights (Adrian Broner, Rances Barthelemy, and Sergey Lipinets, to name a few) due to his promoter not liking to work second to any other promoter.

Not sure how you call that "detraction" but whatever

[Sheldon312]

My problem with Crawford is that he could easily fight at Welterweight with other world class fighters, but he chooses to stay at 140lbs which has no world class fighters and is currently the weakest division in boxing.

But you don't say anything about Thurman and Spence being weight bullies.

[Scipio2009]

The Indongo fight only makes sense if Indongo is bringing both of his belts. If not, I want to see him make the move to WW and try to establish the lineage there. 3-weight lineal champion would be amazing.

... he's not. Indongo has to fight Lipinets next, and if he doesn't the IBF 140lb belts becomes vacant (with this past Saturday's fight done, you have the stage set for Lipinets vs Barthelemy for the vacant IBF 140lb title).

Fighting Indongo and winning makes Crawford the WBC/WBA/WBO 140lb champion, putting him in a spot to have the Lipinets-Barthelmy winner cross the street to unify the division (neither Lipinets or Barthelemy are draws enough to go to the mats for, so Top Rank likely has no battle to lead the event, were that the fight to make).

Move to welterweight, and things are likely worse for Crawford, tbh (WBA/WBC 147lb champ Keith Thurman, the IBF 147lbs title winner Brook/SpenceJr, and most of the top 147lbs challengers are on the other side of the fence, leave Pacquiao, Jessie Vargas, Timothy Bradley, and possibly Juan Manuel Marquez as the only viable options for him)

[Pigeons]

... he's not. Indongo has to fight Lipinets next, and if he doesn't the IBF 140lb belts becomes vacant (with this past Saturday's fight done, you have the stage set for Lipinets vs Barthelemy for the vacant IBF 140lb title).

Fighting Indongo and winning makes Crawford the WBC/WBA/WBO 140lb champion, putting him in a spot to have the Lipinets-Barthelmy winner cross the street to unify the division (neither Lipinets or Barthelemy are draws enough to go to the mats for, so Top Rank likely has no battle to lead the event, were that the fight to make).

Move to welterweight, and things are likely worse for Crawford, tbh (WBA/WBC 147lb champ Keith Thurman, the IBF 147lbs title winner Brook/SpenceJr, and most of the top 147lbs challengers are on the other side of the fence, leave Pacquiao, Jessie Vargas, Timothy Bradley, and possibly Juan Manuel Marquez as the only viable options for him)

Pacquiao, Marquez, Bradley, and Vargas are great options.

[RomanReigns]

Because he's a great fighter and detractors hate greatness

This. Many jeaulous people in this planet.

[Scipio2009]

Pacquiao, Marquez, Bradley, and Vargas are great options.

Bradley has already said he won't fight Crawford, Marquez has maybe two fights left before he hangs them up (and doubt he bothers with Crawford), and Pacquiao only even half-considers the fight if Arum finds a way to get him his $20m guarantee for the fight.

So you've really got Vargas, maybe Pacquiao, maybe Marquez, and maybe Bradley.

[soul_survivor]

Based off resume and skills by age 29, yes, Floyd could be considered a legend. And what are you talking about? Wilfred is arguably the greatest defensive fighter ever. He schooled Duran and gave Hearns and Leonard a run for the money. He also is the youngest world champion ever I believe. He would be P4p 1 in today's era. He would basically be a better and bigger version of Rigo.

Mayweather's best win by 29 was what? Corrales? Castillo? Judah? Those are not legendary wins. Skillset was pretty good but he had one of the worst championship nights in history against Baldomir, almost as bad as Wlad v Sultan. A great fighter puts those types of guys away. A lot of the Floyd hype was built by HBO trying to create a new star and Sugar listing him in the top 50.

Wilfred was supremely talented early in his career but he was pretty much one sided in his loss to Leonard. He furstrated sugar but at no point lookedl ike winning it. There was a gulf between very good and great.

[Pigeons]

Bradley has already said he won't fight Crawford, Marquez has maybe two fights left before he hangs them up (and doubt he bothers with Crawford), and Pacquiao only even half-considers the fight if Arum finds a way to get him his $20m guarantee for the fight.

So you've really got Vargas, maybe Pacquiao, maybe Marquez, and maybe Bradley.

That's boxing for you. It's not like Thurman, Spence, or Garcia are gonna take that fight without a big payday attached to it.