Heaven knows, Terence Crawford has his own big, big fight to concentrate on; this the fast-approaching welterweight unification showdown with Errol Spence. However, Crawford took time to give his opinion on two other fights, one of them taking place the same week as he goes to war with Spence.
After an open workout in Las Vegas this week, “Bud” spoke with the gathered media and, as filmed by Fight Hype, Crawford gave his picks for the Naoya Inoue-Stephen Fulton fight that will go down in Japan four days before Crawford-Spence, and the Tyson Fury-Francis Ngannou clash which will take place in the Middle East in October.
Crawford says he is “leaning towards Fulton.”
“I hope he brings it back to the United States. I hope he go out there and do good, and I wish him well,” Crawford said of defending two-belt super-bantamweight champ Fulton. “I think it’s gonna be a tough fight for both fellas, and the better man is gonna win that day. I just think Fulton is the bigger, stronger guy…not only bigger and stronger, but he has skills, too. You know, it’s one thing [when] a lot of people say, ‘Oh, well, this guy is big. This guy is strong.’ But skills pay the bills, and Floyd [Mayweather] has proven that. And Fulton got the skills to back up his size as well.”
It’s interesting that Crawford brought up Mayweather. Maybe Fulton, 21-0(8) can put on a Mayweather-like performance against “Monster” Inoue and win a decision. We know Inoue is the puncher of the two, but in terms of pure boxing skill, Fulton just might be about to give Inoue his toughest fight to date. Maybe. Is Crawford merely being patriotic in picking Fulton, or does the pound-for-pound star (Crawford behind Inoue on some lists, above him on others) really believe the man from Philadelphia will keep his belts and take Inoue’s unbeaten, 24-0(21) record?
Crawford, as focused as he is on his own fight, will very possibly tune in on July 25 to find out if Fulton can score the big away win.
As far as the much-maligned Fury-Ngannou “fight,” Crawford had a short and sweet, one word answer to what kind of a chance he is willing to give former UFC heavyweight champ Ngannou when it comes to pulling off the upset:
“Zero,” Crawford said when asked what kind of a shot he gives Ngannou of defeating Fury. “Zero.”
The media members chuckled but this is basically the same chance, the same shot something like 90 percent of fight fans, maybe more, are giving Ngannou.
We have two genuinely great/tough to call fights taking place next week, both of them serving to give the sport a major shot in the arm, and we have a joke of a fight, a bad joke of a fight, to “look forward to” in October. Over the course of just a few minutes, Crawford spoke about what’s good and what’s so very bad about the sport of boxing today.