Andre Ward says he’s picking Terence Crawford to defeat undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez on September 13th. Ward states that even with the “weight jump” by Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs), he’s staying onboard the Bud ship until someone “shows me you can beat him.” That ship may be sinking soon because she’s already taking on water, as we witnessed last year.
Ward’s Superficial Crawford Endorsement
“I’m going with Terence Crawford. It’s a big weight jump, a dangerous fight, but somebody has got to prove to me that they can break Crawford’s will, and he can’t figure it out against you,” said Andre Ward to Combat.
Who, pray tell, did Crawford “figure out” during his 17-year career that was any good? You can’t mention Israil Madrimov because that was not a true victory. Madrimov out-punched him and fought him to a standstill. There was no figuring out in that fight. The other guys that Crawford has fought were either old, on the downside, or never high-level fighters to begin with.
Bud didn’t fight talented guys like that, which would have aged him, like David Benavidez, David Morrell, Jaron Ennis, Bakhram Murtazaliev, Sebastian Fundora, or Janibek Alimkhanuly.
“It ain’t no disrepect to Canelo, but I’ve said this the last few years. I’m not betting against Crawford against nobody right now. You’ve got to show me you can beat him,” said Ward.
The Problem with Hero Worship
Well, it would have been good if Ward had gone through Crawford’s 41-fight resume to give his supporting info to support his belief in him. Just to blindly say that he’s picking Bud to defeat Alvarez without listing his past successes against elite-level opposition, it seems like superficial hero worship.
Evaluating Crawford’s Career Wins
- Israil Madrimov: *Questionable victory. It appeared to be a draw.
- Errol Spence: A shell of the fighter he’d once been after his 2019 car crash
- Yuriorkis Gamboa: Fighting two divisions about his best weight class of 126
- Ricky Burns: Near retirement when Crawford fought him
- Shawn Porter: Same as above
- Jeff Horn: Paper champion
- Viktor Postol: Not elite.
- Kell Brook and Amir Khan: Both washed as can be
