Terence Crawford wants to make it clear as day: Don’t compare him with Floyd Mayweather.
After Crawford (42-0, 31 KOs) beat
Canelo Alvarez for the
undisputed super middleweight title earlier this month, one of the major post-fight storylines has been how his career credentials stack up against fellow five-division crownholder
Floyd Mayweather.
Alvarez (63-3-2, 39 KOs), who has now lost to both, said the three-weight undisputed champion Crawford was “way better” than Mayweather.
“That's the GOAT. [Mayweather is] one of the GOATs,” Crawford said on 4th&1 With Cam Newton. "I have nothing but the utmost respect for Mayweather. I would never compare myself to Mayweather. He's the greatest of his era, and I'm the greatest of my era. I don't understand why, especially our people, hate on Mayweather so much. He made so much history for us. He paved the way for me to be where I'm at. He motivated me in so many ways outside the ring with work ethic, hard work, dedication, that I can't even say.
"I don't know why a lot of people, well most people, always try to tarnish his career or want me to be like, 'I'll knock Mayweather out' or always try to compare us.”
Mayweather is 10 years older than Crawford, and their paths never really crossed in their illustrious careers.
Mayweather retired from professional fighting as a welterweight after knocking out Conor McGregor in August 2017. Crawford completed an undisputed title run as a junior welterweight one week before.
Crawford didn’t make his welterweight debut until June 2018, when he landed the WBO title by stopping Jeff Horn in nine rounds.
Manouk Akopyan is The Ring’s lead writer. Follow him on X and Instagram: @ManoukAkopyan