Few people in boxing seem to know Terence Crawford as well as WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson. The man who calls the new undisputed super middleweight champion his big brother says he wants to see him retire following his historic victory over Canelo Alvarez on September 13 in Las Vegas.
“I don’t want to see him fight no more,” Stevenson told Ariel Helwani in an interview on September 16. “He made one of the best fighters of our generation look average.”
Stevenson is on to something.
He’s right in the concept that Crawford looked stellar, leaving no doubt about his all-time greatness, but I would disagree with him on one point. I don’t think Canelo looked average. I thought he looked great, but that’s the thing.
No matter how good or great he was, he had nothing for Crawford. That’s an even bigger compliment.
Stevenson never switched up. When I spoke to him earlier this year, Stevenson told me Crawford would beat Canelo and make it look easy. He was right.
Crawford will be 38 later this month, and at this point in his career, he will and should have his pick of challenges to accept or pursue. UFC lightweight champion Ilia Topuria would love to continue his pursuit to call plays out of Conor McGregor’s playbook—though he won’t admit it.
opuria, a phenomenal boxer by MMA’s standards, would love the chance to prove he has what it takes to knock off an all-time great like Crawford. However, no matter what anyone on the MMA side tells you, Topuria stands to gain more from that fight than Crawford.
It’s the Jay-Z concept. The legendary rapper once said, “You shoot me, you’re famous. I shoot you, I’m brainless.” The reference wasn’t about guns. It’s about retaliating against an attacker who stands to gain by you giving them your attention.
Crawford beats Topuria, he’ll get a bag as the two likely sell out a soccer stadium in Spain. That’s an obvious potential draw.
However, if by some chance Topuria has a shred of success against him in the boxing ring, he becomes the only all-time great to show cracks against a mixed martial artist in his own sport.
Any level of success Topuria has skyrockets his popularity, and he’ll get his own bag for the fight. Crawford has been careful and wise to pick fights against guys who have something on the line and stand to lose just as much as him—if not more.
While the Topuria bag should be tempting, it is hard to argue with Stevenson’s take. What else does Crawford have to accomplish in the sport?
Unless he is planning to move down to middleweight to take on Janibek Alimkhanuly for his WBO and IBF titles, Carlos Adames for his WBC title, or 42-year-old Erislandy Lara for his WBA belt, it’s hard to imagine what conventional fight would make a lot of sense for him.
Winning the middleweight title would make Crawford a six-division champion. Only Oscar De La Hoya and Manny Pacquiao have won titles in that many weight classes.
Crawford has proven to be motivated by legacy over anything else. That’s part of what makes him such a fan-friendly performer. Even still, at some point, the fire has to be quenched.
Crawford also seems like an athlete and a man who is motivated by doubters. The fact of the matter is there will always be doubters. He’ll never shut them up completely. He’ll never stamp out the last of the haters.
In fact, the haters are the ones who want to see him stick around until someone finally beats him so they can gain some satisfaction from seeing him lose. As a fight fan and a journalist who has covered the sport for nearly two decades, it’s great to see a fighter dominate and leave the sport on their own terms.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Andre Ward did it. It would be great to see Crawford do the same. If he does, he’ll keep the same blueprint in place for Stevenson, who is a student of the game.
Crawford is his own man and will make his own decisions, but little brother is on to something.
