A NEW LEGEND
Shane Mosley, Kid Gavilan, Carmen Basilio, Pernell Whitaker. Does a win over Canelo Alvarez propel Crawford into that rarified air? If so, who does he displace? “I can see Crawford in that company,” Pacquiao said. “I don’t think he would have beaten Leonard, but it would have been competitive,” Trampler said. Said Lampley: “I’m not willing to say Terence Crawford would be no match for Sugar Ray Leonard any more than I’m willing to say Canelo Alvarez would be no match for Marvelous Marvin Hagler.” “I’m spoiled,” said Roach. “I’ve worked with Manny and Miguel Cotto, so my list of great welterweights begins and ends with them. But if Crawford beats Canelo, he has to be considered one of the greats of his era.” “All-time great? Who has he beat?” Gibbons asked. “Shawn Porter, who was done? Errol Spence? He was dead from that car wreck. Has he beaten any future Hall of Famers? He’s a good fighter for what was out there, but he only looks like a monster because the competition was so bad.” “You can’t blame Crawford, because no one was around to give him that kind of competition,” Jones said. “He’s not on that list of great welterweights because of the quality of his opponents. But I do think he would give a good fight to any of them. But it is hard to put him up there because of the caliber of the guys he’s fought.” There’s no question that Crawford is an excellent fighter. But does he have the hand speed, ring smarts and killer instinct of a Sugar Ray Leonard? Does he have the ferocity of a Duran or the paralyzing right hand of a Thomas Hearns? Has he ever shown the bloodlust of a De La Hoya against Ricardo Mayorga or Fernando Vargas or Ike Quartey? Is he a perpetual whirlwind
like Henry Armstrong? One thing Crawford does do exceptionally well is switch effortlessly between left-handed and right-handed stances, although against Madrimov, he stuck to the southpaw stance exclusively for 12 rounds. “I think when the game is on the line, he’s more likely to go southpaw,” Lampley said. “I can’t remember the last time I saw someone fighting southpaw against Canelo.” Canelo, of course, has never lost to a southpaw, his only defeats coming at the hands of Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Dmitry Bivol in Alvarez’s own ill-fated attempt to move up to light heavyweight. He did have some difficulty with southpaws Erislandy Lara and Austin Trout a decade ago, but since then he has stopped lefties James Kirkland and Billy Joe Saunders and easily outpointed John Ryder. “In my day, we didn’t deal with a lot of switch-hitters,” Jones said. “So that could work to Crawford’s advantage.” Jones is right, of course, that it is not Crawford’s fault that he hasn’t had a Hearns, a Duran or a De La Hoya to bring out the beast in him. Obviously we would not truly appreciate Leonard’s greatness had we not seen him dig deep to stop Hearns in their first fight or frustrate Duran to the point of quitting in their second. We might not fear Hearns so much had we not seen him face-plant Duran and Pipino Cuevas with that terrifying right hand. Perhaps the Canelo fight is Crawford’s opportunity to prove he’s not only the best of his era but among the best of any era. Jones, for one, thinks so. “My top five welterweights are Robinson, Leonard, Duran, Hearns and Benitez,” he said. “If Crawford beats Canelo, he definitely goes into that top five. For me, he goes in front of Benitez.” Who are any of us to disagree with Roy Jones Jr.?
Crawford’s first welterweight title defense was a 12th-round TKO win over Jose Benavidez.
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