Currently spotless at 39-0, WBO welterweight champ Terence Crawford will face, on paper, the toughest test of his career on July 29 when he will collide with fellow unbeaten pound-for-pound star Errol Spence. And if victorious, what could be next for 35 year old Crawford? It has been asked of Bud if he could go on to break Floyd Mayweather’s milestone 50-0 ledger.
That would mean, for Crawford to equal Floyd’s numbers, he would need 11 more wins after the Spence fight, assuming of course that he wins that one. 12 more wins, and Crawford’s record would read an astonishing 51-0. However, Crawford says he won’t try and beat Floyd’s numbers, stating how “that’s Mayweather’s thing.”
Speaking on CBS Sports Radio’s Maggie & Perloff, Crawford, 39-0 with 30 KO’s, was asked about Mayweather’s magic 50-0.
“Nah, I ain’t even thought of 50-0,” Crawford said. “That’s Mayweather’s thing. That’s his record. I commend him and he could have that. Not at all (I don’t plan on having 11 more fights).”
Crawford, who has been criticised by some for not fighting often enough, especially over recent years, would really have to stick around for some considerable amount of time if he was to equal or break Mayweather’s record. And it seems clear Crawford feels he has no need to do this, that he has defined his greatness, and will go on to further define his greatness, in other ways. Crawford has said that after he beats Spence next month, this will be known as “his era.”
In terms of all-time greatest welterweights, Bud says Mayweather ranks as number-one for him.
“It would have to be Mayweather,” Crawford said when asked about the all-time greatest at 147 pounds. “Everything – not just because of the record, fighting style, everything that surrounds ‘Money’ Mayweather. It would have to be Mayweather. Those (Sugar Ray Leonard and Wilfred Benitez) were great fighters but when you talk about all-time welterweight, nobody compared to Mayweather at all.”
It’s interesting that Crawford would point to Mayweather’s welterweight reign as his greatest accomplishment, when plenty of us fans feel Mayweather was at his best down at 130 or 135 pounds. And as for the greatest welterweight ever, surely that distinction goes to Sugar Ray Robinson? But Crawford’s opinion is as interesting as it is something he is more than entitled to.
Will Crawford retire from the sport with an unbeaten record, even if he doesn’t break that 50-0 ledger?