The question of who’s the best fighter of the 21st century may not be such a slam dunk after all.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. has paved the way for nearly all of it, and no fighter has really come close, but the last few years have opened up a lot of eyes, and Terence “Bud” Crawford is right there knocking on Floyd’s—to this point—untouchable perch. On Saturday night, Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) won a world title in a fourth weight class as he out-hustled and outworked a game Israil Madrimov in a 12-round unanimous decision victory at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles. The judges had it 115-113 twice and 116-112 for Crawford.
Give the man his respect. Last year, Crawford dominated and stopped then-unbeaten unified world champion Errol Spence Jr. in a ninth-round TKO to become the first undisputed welterweight champion of the four-belt era and a two-weight undisputed champion overall as he also once held all four belts at 140 pounds. For all that he’s done in the sport, Mayweather never achieved such a distinction. However, that’s not the entire story.
Mayweather or Crawford?
Mayweather never truly wanted to become the undisputed champion. His goal was to win the biggest fights and generate the most money of any fighter in history.
After beating Zab Judah in 2006 to become the IBF welterweight titleholder, Mayweather bought out his contract under Top Rank to control his own destiny. Instead of facing WBO 147-pound titlist Antonio Margarito for $8 million, Mayweather went a different route. He expressed a desire to move up to junior middleweight to challenge then-WBC 154-pound world champion Oscar De La Hoya to win a world title in a fifth weight division. Before making the jump, Mayweather vacated his IBF title and defeated then-WBC welterweight champ Carlos Baldomir, who previously beat Judah. If your goal is to make the most money, it’s not rocket science. You’ll pick De La Hoya over Margarito every day of the week.
Once Mayweather turned 33, he embraced his “Money” era. No longer was he fixated on taking the biggest fights, but more of a combination. A mix of big names was headed towards the twilight of their career, younger fighters looking to make a name for themselves, and a fighter people had been calling on him to fight for a long time.
Crawford is older than Mayweather was at this point. He’s 36 years old, and his legacy is still expanding. He didn’t take a tune-up before moving up to 154 pounds to challenge the WBA champion in Madrimov. Some will say, ‘Madrimov only had 11 fights.’ Yes, and he had a belt. That says more about Madrimov than anything else. Others may chime in, ‘Crawford has to take these fights. Mayweather struck gold and didn’t have to take as many risks.’ You can also say that, but ask yourself: Is Crawford in for the money or legacy? Mayweather was the guy who said, “Your kids can’t eat legacy.”
While that’s true, regardless of one’s popularity or journey, the fact of the matter is that Crawford isn’t exactly a young fighter, but he’s one of the best at a young man’s game, and he isn’t taking tune-ups. And let’s be clear: there isn’t anything wrong with tune-ups. De La Hoya fought Darryl Tyson, and Mayweather fought Sharmba Mitchell. Crawford has been different. He beat Ricky Burns for his first world title in 2014 at lightweight when the Englishman had gone 22 straight fights without a loss. After beating Ray Beltran, he moved up to 140 pounds and fought for a title immediately, stopping Thomas Dulorme in six rounds.
When you look at it from this perspective, it lends credence to the notion that Crawford could one day surpass the all-time legend and Hall of Famer Floyd Mayweather Jr. as the greatest fighter of the 21st century. Don’t get me wrong, Naoya Inoue and Oleksandr Usyk are making excellent cases for themselves, but Crawford is in a league of his own right now. Believe it or not, he doesn’t even need to fight Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, which could be a bridge too far at 168 pounds.
