Don't get me wrong, i think Crawford is way better than Bute, but my point is the rest of his division is fighting each other in tough fights while Buds beating up on lesser competition... I thought his best opponent was Gamboa and that was already several years ago. Khan has had no heart or soul for going on 5 years now, and Viktor postol and Jeff Horn were 2 of the most overly hyped, over rated, one dimensional fighters since 2010 Meanwhile Porter, Spence, Pac, Thurman and even Danny Garcia have all been fighting each other Crawford is probably more talented than those guys, but at this point all those guys are way more battle tested, particularly Shawn Porter Should Bud be able to maintain his #1 status while not fighting any of these guys, and do you think this will ever catch up to him in the ring? Or do you think it will work to his advantage? I remember Bute maintaining his top ranking feasting on cream puffs, while the rest of the division scrapped it out like men in the Super Six Then he thought he was going in easy against Froch after Ward had already had his way with him, and Froch ends up putting hands on Bute in front of all those people
You must have forgotten what a beast Bute was back then. He was fighting crumbs because nobody wanted to fight him.
Nah...he's not. Crawford is a very talented fighter but I don't understand why he's not fighting for the Unification Show Down. What is he waiting for?
Bute was literally rescued by the ref vs Andrade, people forget that. He was going to be knocked out in the 12th round no question. The Froch win wasnt a surprise to me apart from he did it even earlier than i thought. Basically, Bute had already been exposed it was just brushed under the carpet. I see no such blatent weakness in crawford
Unintentionally. I don´t think Arum cares where Crawford´s career is headed, as long as he keeps that P4P spot. (Every time Fury, Loma or Bud fight on ESPN, they are hyped to be P4P #1)
That's the thing. People easily forget and rewrite history, but at that time it seemed like several didn't want to face Bute.
I'll go with this answer. when I watch youtube clips of Bud calling Spence fat to his face, tells me he is ready. But Spence who I admire, wants Garcia after Porter. Pac's promoter isn't calling anyone young that isn't flawed (Broner? Keith I fight one time a year Thurman?) No way does Arum ask Bud to fight Pac...and Bud turns it down. And a out of commission Thurman comes back for the old Pac, I don't remember him calling out Bud. I think Bud's lack of fights is based on bad boxing politics at most or Arum as you stated, doing what is needed to keep belts in his stable.
I'd say it's a pretty apt comparison, people are missing the point. Nobody's comparing him to Bute as far as fighting ability goes but rather their situations. And yeah, it's pretty similar. The only difference is that, Bute needed that step up badly because he wasn't proven so it kind of hurt even more when he got locked out for a couple years (or however long it was).
Good post, Crawford is one of the most complete fighters today, the only thing we're yet to see tested is him at Welterweight.
Crawford has shown higher class against better opposition more frequently. Bute was very good. But he was never a Ward/Froch/Kessler. Those who felt he was were proven wrong.