Terence Crawford usually keeps a low profile on social media.
But the pound-for-pound kingpin was in a very talkative mood Tuesday on X and felt like it was a good time to clear the air surrounding some of his stances.
The wide variety of topics Crawford (42-0, 31 KOs) addressed ranged from critics questioning his status as a star to performance-enhancing drug allegations, a fight with
Manny Pacquiao that never materialized and how
Floyd Mayweather Jr. would be the only opponent to potentially push his limits.
"I find it crazy how people run with this Crawford don’t sell," said Crawford. "Any fighter I ever fought, besides Amir Khan when he fought
Canelo Alvarez, I was their biggest fight. But I can’t sell though. But none of these fighters could do what they did with me, with other fighters though. So I must be lost.
"How many times did Canelo fight in a stadium again? How many people attended with other fighters again? If he sells out on his own, why couldn't he do it with anyone else before me?
“I just love putting that out there because they don’t talk about that. But they run with the narrative I can’t sell. If I can’t sell, why do so many people come and tune in to the fight? I get it, I don't act like the rest of them."
Crawford has broken through with legacy-defining fights recently by stopping
Errol Spence in 2023 to become the undisputed welterweight champion and by scoring a
unanimous decision win against Canelo Alvarez in September to become the undisputed super middleweight champion.
For the longest time, Crawford was linked to a fight against Pacquiao while they were both signed with Top Rank, but Bob Arum nixed the matchup in fear of the latter being on the receiving end of a bad beating.
"I tried to fight Pacquiao way back in 2015, and they hid him from me. So I didn’t get too big too soon, they wanted to keep milking him because he was their cash cow.
“Oscar De La Hoya said Pacquiao would have beat me because he got stopped by him. Look: I would have [expletive] you, Pacquiao, and whoever you thought would have beat me up. Just because I’m responsible doesn’t mean [anything].
"I respect Manny, don’t get it twisted. But he's been knocked out more than once. If you know boxing then you know he would have had to take a lot of chances with me, and I’m definitely not the one to chance with if you know what you are watching. Just ask his coach.
"It’s a reason they stayed away from me so long till they couldn’t anymore. I have been a problem since day one, and they knew it. I’m the one they told y'all to stay away from."
Separately, on the same day potential future opponent
Janibek Alimkhanuly became the latest fighter to test positive for a performance enhancing drug, Crawford also addressed allegations around banned substances.
"It’s a reason I never had a close fight, or a fight where people had to say a referee or judges, no drug allegations helped me win. No controversy over here at all, just hard work from the mud.
"Now I was on steroids [laughing emoji]. Saying that to a person who doesn’t even like taking Tylenol or multivitamins. Check me anytime of the year and won’t find anything in my system but water, pop, and candy."
When an X user noted that Crawford is tied to SNAC, a supplements company
founded by the late Victor Conte, a convicted steroids dealer-turned-outspoken anti-doping advocate, Crawford quipped: "When were over-the-counter supplements considered steroids again?"
Crawford concluded his commentary by saying that he's never gotten a chance to show off his entire arsenal of skills throughout his illustrious 17-year, Hall of Fame-bound career.
"It's so crazy to say y'all never got to see me at my full potential because nobody brought it out of me because I was knocking them out," he said.
"I pay homage to the ones before me, but Floyd Mayweather [would be] the only one I would have had problems with, because of his mind. And I’m done talking about it, go argue with yo momma."
Manouk Akopyan is The Ring’s lead writer. Follow him on X and Instagram: @ManoukAkopyan