Terence Crawford’s name has been a popular topic in combat sports this past week, but few expected UFC lightweight champion Ilia Topuria to be among the chorus calling him out.
Topuria, Uncrowned’s No. 1 pound-for-pound MMA fighter, began his campaign against Crawford six days before “Bud” defeated Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in a historic performance Saturday to capture boxing’s undisputed super middleweight title. The undefeated MMA champion wrote on social media that he would “put [Crawford] to sleep in the first contact” if the two ever collided in a boxing ring.
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When Crawford walked out to Topuria’s song before the Alvarez fight on Saturday night, many felt he was responding to Topuria’s callout. However, speaking Monday on Uncrowned’s “The Ariel Helwani Show,” Crawford denied that to be the case.
“To be honest, I’ve never even seen this dude fight,” Crawford said. “I ain’t even gonna lie. I’m not worried about that guy at all. It’s crazy how things work. I didn’t even know who he was. When he [saw] me at the UFC, he came up to shake my hand, saying what’s up to me. I ain’t even know who he was, but then I [saw] him online talking about [how] he’ll knock me out in the first round and this and that. If you wanted to fight me, you had the opportunity to tell me, ‘Hey man, I want to fight you. What’s up?’
“[His callout is] fake. If I don’t like somebody, if I want to fight them for whatever reason, I would’ve been like, ‘Hey, what’s up, man? What you think about me and you fighting?’ I’m not going to go hide behind the keyboard and things like that and be like, ‘I knock this dude out.’ I think that’s fake.”
“I definitely think he’s trying to clout chase,” Crawford continued. “I think he’d definitely get in the ring with me for the right check — that’s what we all do it for. But at the same time, I think he’s — I don’t know what the f*** he’s doing. I don’t know what he’s thinking. He ain’t even nothing to talk about.”
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Although Crawford vs. Topuria would be a major crossover event, benefiting from both boxing and UFC’s individual fan bases, Crawford insisted to Uncrowned that he isn’t interested.
He also raised doubts as to how big the matchup even would be, dismissing comparisons to the 2017 crossover mega-fight between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor.
“For what? What money would I get out of fighting him?” Crawford asked of Topuria. “Tell me how much I’m going to get out of fighting him, please.
“He’s nowhere near on the level of Conor McGregor, let’s be real. Stop it. Don’t ever compare him to Conor. Conor [was much bigger than him]. Like I said, I don’t know this guy. I’ve never seen this guy fight and I watch a lot of MMA. Maybe I’m slipping, maybe he’s a good fighter, I don’t know. But I’ve honestly never seen this guy fight. And I’ve seen Conor McGregor fight a lot of times. I’m just saying, him and Conor, it’s night and day.”
It’s fair to say Terence Crawford isn’t buying what UFC lightweight champion Ilia Topuria is selling after his historic win over Canelo Alvarez.
(Chris Unger via Getty Images)
Crawford, 37, is less than 48 hours removed from making history against Alvarez — a win that saw him become the first male three-weight undisputed champion in boxing’s four-belt era.
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Crawford has since risen to No. 1 on most boxing pound-for-pound lists, including Uncrowned’s own, dethroning undisputed heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk.
“It definitely was one of the greatest moments of my career,” Crawford said of Saturday’s victory.
Crawford’s 2023 stoppage win over Errol Spence Jr. to become boxing’s undisputed welterweight champion was a masterful performance in what was widely considered beforehand to be a 50-50 fight. In the eyes of many, it was Crawford’s standout moment — until he bettered it by vaulting up multiple weight classes and defeating Alvarez as the undersized underdog. But Crawford said Monday that he still considers his 2014 WBO lightweight title win over Ricky Burns in Glasgow to be his greatest in-ring memory.
“Becoming a world champion [for the first time] was so special to me,” Crawford said.
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“[The Alvarez win] was huge, but there’s something about that first [world title], feeling that this little poor kid from Omaha, Nebraska, set his sights out to be a world champion and had to travel all across the world to go become world champion, [and on] one night, all his dreams came true.”
Crawford ended his decade-long relationship with Bob Arum’s Top Rank after his 2021 triumph over Shawn Porter, citing the company’s inability to deliver the Spence fight as the reason. Arum insisted in the last few years of their relationship that Crawford wasn’t a draw and even famously said that he could’ve “built a house in Beverly Hills with all the money he had lost [promoting] Crawford.”
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But on Saturday, more than 70,000 fans turned out to watch Crawford’s superfight with Alvarez. The gate — $47 million — ended up being the third-highest in boxing history, after Floyd Mayweather’s fights with Manny Pacquiao and McGregor. In doing so, Crawford finally proved his doubters wrong.
It’s not a new story, either. Top Rank promoted Mayweather for 10 years until Mayweather bought out his contract for $750,000 in 2006. Mayweather believed that he was being overshadowed by the company’s main attraction, Oscar De La Hoya, and that he could become a bigger star than Top Rank considered him. Mayweather went on to take part in several of the biggest fights in boxing history.
“Absolutely, [Saturday night was validation for me],” Crawford acknowledged. “To be a fighter [who] they say can’t sell or they lose money on, and they say doesn’t have enough personality. They tried to hurt my career by saying these things. It definitely was a great feeling to see the turnout, to see all the supporters for both fighters — the history-making numbers.”
Terence Crawford with his belts following his undisputed super middleweight title win over Canelo Alvarez.
(Harry How via Getty Images)
Crawford, who moved up two weight divisions to face “Canelo,” was not fazed by the Mexican’s size advantage, even though many felt it would be the difference in their fight. During the contest itself, it was clear that Crawford felt comfortable with Alvarez’s power and was happy to exchange with him. The native of Omaha, Nebraska, beat the will to win out of Alvarez, proving to be too skilled for the former face of boxing.
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“It wasn’t a sense of me not knowing that I can sell, because look at all the fights [I’ve fought] since being with Top Rank. It was a sense of me proving everyone wrong [who thought] that I couldn’t win,” Crawford said. “They were trying to put this narrative out in the air that it’s not possible, it can’t be done. Nobody’s ever done it before, ‘the bigger man always beats the smaller man.’ I remember telling Max [Kellerman], I said, ‘Who came up with that?’ In my eyes, the smaller man always wins.
“Everybody is just listening to [each other]. They just copy and [paste]. They’re just running with his narrative that the great big man always beats the great smaller man. Can we look at history, look at all these great fighters that moved up in weight, and they were smaller guys that went into bigger divisions and beat the bigger guy? People just hear things, they just run with it and they don’t do their research.”
If Crawford were to retire now, he’d undoubtedly go down as not only the greatest of this era, but one of the greatest fighters of all time. Yet, there are no signs to say he is past his best.
Crawford still has a lot to give the sport — if he chooses to stay in it.
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“I don’t know,” Crawford responded bluntly when asked if he would fight again. “It’s still up in the air.
“I’m just saying it could be [my final fight], it may not be.”
