Undefeated WBO welterweight world champion Terence “Bud” Crawford feels he still has to prove himself to the critics even after his sensational fourth round TKO of former world champion Kell Brook.
Crawford, 33, has been chasing fights with Filipino WBO champion Manny “Pac-Man” Pacquiao and undefeated American WBC/IBF champion Errol “The Truth” Spence Jr. but promotional setbacks and COVID-19 are obstacles preventing the fights at the moment.
The goal has always been to become undisputed and Crawford who has already been undisputed at junior welterweight wants to achieve the same feat at welterweight. It is a rare achievement in boxing to be able to unify all titles in a division and Crawford would become undisputed champion in two division which would elevate his legacy greatly.
Crawford and his promoter Bob Arum had a rift in the media, when the Top Rank promoter said Crawford has lost him money and he would be willing to consider offers if rival promoters were willing to buy out his contract because of all the money he lost investing in the American fighter.
Arum claimed the soft spoken Crawford isn’t willing to promote himself to the mainstream the way Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao and rising star Teofimo Lopez have.
Crawford who is always the class act refused to bad mouth Arum and said he does whatever his promoter tells him to do and it’s the promoters job to find ways to push him to the mainstream because he is a fighter and a fighters job is to train and win fights and a promoters job is to promote and market fighters.
In a recent Instagram live chat Crawford said the two fights he wants the most are Errol Spence Jr. and Manny Pacquiao for unification but he especially wants Spence just to silence the doubters who keep saying he is scared of him.
“That’s the fight I really want, Spence and Pacquiao,” said Crawford.”Them the two fights I really want, that I really look forward to in the near future. I really want Spence just to show and shut everybody up and to see what they going to say after that. I know it’s going to be a lot of excuses and the bandwagon, it’s going to be wild.”
Spence currently has a fight on December 5th against Danny Garcia and will need to focus on that fight because Garcia a former world champion in two divisions is a dangerous knockout artist who is not to be overlooked.
Pacquiao who will turn 42 on December 17th hasn’t fought since July of 2019 when he beat Keith Thurman for the WBA title. The Filipino Senator was very close to fighting Crawford in a unification bout in the Middle East but the commission refused to allow fans at venues due to the COVID-19 virus pandemic and the fight was nixed.
