Gary Russell Jr says he sees Terence Crawford as too “defensively immature” to defeat the naturally bigger & stronger Errol Spence Jr when/if they square off for the undisputed welterweight championship.
Russell Jr feels that Crawford (38-0, 29 KOs) is the better fighter in terms of skills, but he gets hit too much in his fights. If Crawford gets hit a lot by Spence, he will not last long under that kind of firepower.
We don’t know how good Crawford’s chin is because he’s not been fighting big punchers that can hang in there, making it a war that goes behind eight rounds.
“I go with Errol. He’s the naturally bigger guy. I think the naturally stronger puncher,” said Gary Russell Jr to Fight Hub TV, picking Errol Spence Jr to defeat Terence Crawford when/if the fight happens.
We saw what Kell Brook was doing to Crawford’s first in just three rounds, and he doesn’t have the power or the work rate of Spence. This was the post-Gennadiy Golovkin & Spence version of Brook.
A lot of casual boxing fans have become enamored over Crawford’s victories over lower-level fighters like Amir Khan, Brook, Shawn Porter, Jeff Horn, and Jose Benavidez Jr, but they fail to recognize that he’s not been fighting the best.
“I think Errol is more defensively responsible,” said Russell Jr. “I think Terence is the better boxer. He’s the better specimen of the two overall, but I think he’s too defensively immature. I think Terence is too defensively immature.
“He gets hit a lot, and he shows he gets hurt. He doesn’t necessarily need to be from a guy from his weight class. He shows that when he does get hit, he gets hurt. Even smaller guys. You saw him with Gamboa.
“He gets hurt by smaller guys. I think he’s the better fighter. If he’s in 15 round shape and is able to have a certain level of conditioning to pick his punches, pick his shots, and make Errol run into shots, I think he’ll be able to steal the rounds the earlier rounds and be able to maintain it if he’s in 15 round shape.
“If he’s not, I think Errol is going to be too big, too strong, and overtime by the eighth or ninth round; he’s going to overwhelm Terence.
“The sport of boxing is the Marquees of Queensbury. People tend to forget that. That means to hit and not get hit. So it’s not a thing of strengthening your chin. It’s a thing of having a level of defensive discipline.
“Being able to have a certain level of defensive discipline. To be able to catch and avoid shots that are coming your way, and I think Terence is defensively immature when it comes to that,” said Russell Jr.
