By: Sean Crose
Blame it on boxing politics. Terence Crawford has been on the fringes of the welterweight division, even though he is an undefeated world-class player who was the undisputed champion of the junior weight division. Most of Crawford’s colleagues – and by colleagues we are talking about other top divisional names – fight under the banner of Premiere Boxing Champion while Crawford himself fights under the banner of Premiere Boxing Champion. language of the Highest Rank. This Saturday night, however, Crawford has a chance to disrupt the PBC party…provided, of course, that he can overtake former stellar Shawn Porter in their scheduled 12-round match .
This was the scale of the war Crawford had been waiting for. Although he beat the likes of Carlos Beltran, Viktor Postol, Yuriorkis Gamboa, Amir Khan, Kell Brook (who had beaten Porter years before) and others, he never beat the likes of Adrien Broner, Andre Berto or Danny Garcia, as Porter did. It’s good to keep in mind that many feel that Porter even beat the great Keith Thurman when they met in 2016. There’s no doubt that coming Saturday night, Porter has the most impressive résumé of all. two. Crawford, however, has always proved to be someone special – and at 34, he can probably still prove it if he is.
To watch Crawford compete is to watch an elusive student switch to fighting in the ring. However, he also has killer instincts to allow himself to end the match early. Just ask Jeff Horn, Julius Indongo, or Thomas Dulorme or Egidijus Kavaliauskas. Make no mistake about it, Crawford can beat. However, Porter can lick and keep ticking. He has fought mighty men like Thurman and Errol Spence, and has never been stopped. He got down, sure, but never stopped before the final bell rang.
What makes this fight particularly interesting, however, is the fact that both of these men take the sport of boxing very seriously. Watch any pre-match program involving one or both of these boxers and you’ll find unusual concentration even at the highest levels of the sport. These are simply not people having a bad night. If Crawford has a better night than Porter on Saturday, he could also be viewed – at least by some – as the de facto king of the weightlifting hill. With fellow titleholder Errol Spence looking into an uncertain future due to various injuries, it’s tempting to claim that Crawford will now be the man to beat in the tournament.
Porter, however, will probably have something to say about that.
