Jesús Cova’s view: Terence “Bud” Crawford is already a legend
by Jesús Cova
Terence “Bud” Crawford, 35, from Omaha, Nebraska, registered his name in the history of boxing with a dazzling and overwhelming exhibition of quality and superiority against Errol Spence Jr, whom he knocked out on Saturday in just 26 minutes and 32 seconds in front of some 20,000 spectators at the luxurious T Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Nevada.
With the victory Crawford maintained his undefeated record of 40 fights with 32 knockouts and made history by becoming the first to be crowned undisputed champion in two categories, the super lightweight (140 pounds) and welterweight (147 pounds), which are granted by the World Association, the World Council, the International Federation and the World Organization, the 4 most important entities controlling the discipline in the world. The fight satisfied the fans inside the T Mobile and those who followed it on TV around the world, even if it did not really fulfill the expectations, especially considering the very high level shown by Crawford against the more technical Spence, from Long Island, NY, 33 years old, winner of 28, with 22 before the limit, who had his WBA, WBC and IBF belts at stake against the WBO 147 lbs. titleholder.
No.1 and 11 knockouts in a row
The victory consolidated Crawford as the number one in the so-called Top Ten of some entities linked to the activity of the gloves, ESPN the best known of them, a top position only threatened by Japanese Naoya Inoue, winner by KO over Stephen Fulton in dispute for the super bantamweight belt.
Similarly, for Crawford the victory over Spence was the eleventh consecutive by KO, a streak started 7 years ago against the Californian John Molina, on July 23, 2016 in 8. He was followed by Dominican Felix Diaz, RTD10, 5/20/17; Namibia’s Julius Indongo, TKO3 at 1’38”, when he conquered all 4 super lightweight crowns, 8/19/17; Australian Jeff Horn, 6/9/18, by TKO9; Californian Jose Benavidez jr, TKO at 12 on Oct. 13, 2018; England’s Amir Khan, 4-20-19, TKO at 5; Egildijus Kavaliauskas, Lithuanian, TKO9 on 12-14-19; Kell Brook, of the United Kingdom, TKO4 on 11-14-20; American Shawn Porter, TKO10 on November 2021 and, finally, Ukrainian David Avanesyan, whom he dispatched in 6 chapters on December 10 last year, a fight in which he won the WBO crown he risked on Saturday against Errol Spence. As is evident from the count, Crawford likes to fight once a year, twice a year at most.
The future?
With Spence out of the way, seemingly the highest hurdle to his reign, disemboweled, the welterweight roster doesn’t leave much for Crawford to select a next opponent. The most eye-catching names in the current rankings are Vergil Ortiz, Jamal James and Sergey Lipines. There are others, but they certainly don’t draw much attention, So in pursuit of interesting purses, it’s reasonable to assume that perhaps Crawford will opt to move up to super welter in the immediate future. But this is mere speculation.
However, it must be said that a few minutes after Saturday’s bout closed in Las Vegas, it was confirmed that there was a rematch clause that would give Spense, aka La Verdad, the option of a second chance against his victimizer. However, considering what happened on Saturday: Will the fans be interested in the repetition of a reprise between the two? We doubt it.
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