As a boxing fan from overseas who likes both fighters I can only tell you how I see it. I don't particularly blame Spence, he's made a fortune and has doubtless made decisions in conjunction with his promoter for his own best interest. You can spin all the fights he's taken in a positive way of course, but when I watched him against Mikey Garcia for instance, it may have been a big night with a huge crowd, but I watched it feeling that Spence was taking low hanging fruit, fighting a skilled but physically well outmatched fighter for the best dollar to risk ratio, rather than seeking out the only other man on the planet whose name on the resume could push him to glory.
I recently founded a new boxing organization, the IBC. I was meant to fight Shadow111 for the lightweight title but he pulled because he had to go look for the edge of the flat earth. Thusly, I was elevated to IBC lightweight champion and Haney is not actually undisputed.
All the tension on this forum is for a reason, can't blame you guys. If we didn't care about boxing we wouldn't argue. It's damned frustrating knowing that we're only seeing maybe 70-80% of what Crawford is possibly capable of, and if this were a different era these guys would've been on their 2nd or 3rd match already. As has been stated over and over again, they just don't fight enough/higher caliber fighters today. Can you imagine seeing some of these fighters coming up in the 40's? Or the 70's? Imagine what Beterbiev would look like, sharpening his skills against guys like Spinks, Foster, Quawi, Saad, etc? He would be far superior to what he is now, perfect record be damned!
Like Shadow would ever fight. He'd have to unattach his tonsils from Canelo first and that's never going to happen.
At 147, maybe, but at least Crawford is in his THIRD division, undisputed in one, while Spence just keeps on looking.
But he is though ... considering he's in the hall of fame and Fighters like Sugar Ray Leonard sing his praises.. the Lacy fight finally brought him that attention.. & rightly so he completely ruined the kid .. I can name countless US Fighters and trainers who respect Joe Calzaghe so stop talking s***
Spence originally laughed Mikey off, but Mikey insisted on fighting him. He called him out. It got to the point where he pretty much had to take the fight because Mikey was accusing him of just being a big power punched with mediocre skill. That's why Spence taught him a lesson and thoroughly outboxed him, but apparently several people have room temperature IQ and didn't look past the surface.
This quote from the late Earnie Shavers is like gospel. He was talking about fighters today: 'Now most of the guys hand-pick their opponents. We didn’t hand-pick. We just fought everybody. And I’m glad I fought in that era because it taught me how to fight, take care of myself and earn a name. But now they hand-pick them and when you fight a top guy, you get beat. You’ve gotta start a guy and let him fight. That’s how I started.' - Earnie Shavers
Yes, Lewis beat several ranked opponents who were in their 20's. I'll ask once more when is Crawford actually going to fight someone with a pulse who isn't some obscure name with an even more obscure resume? Comparing Crawford's record at 147 to Lewis, pure comedy.
Yeah Spence fought Danny right after a car crash with no tune ups and fought Ugas right after an eye surgery but sure, all he's doing is "looking" for good opponents. All Crawford defenders can do is bring up ancient history at 140 knowing damn well they can't name 5 of those opponents with a gun to their head. People remember who Spence beat years after he beat them. Nobody remembers Indongo or Postol.
1. I didn’t say Spence is “looking” for opponents, I quoted you on how he’s still only “looking” to move to his second division after being at 147 for so long. 2. Call me a Crawford defender, I just call myself a fan. I can easily name 5 of his opponents. That dude is fun to watch. 3. Nobody will remember Indongo and Postol except for you, lol. You clearly remember them! Spence fought twice-beaten Danny 14 months later, not “right after” his crash, and nobody had Spence as the underdog. Ugas? He’s some killer now?
I don't see or hear nothing wrong with what he said. I know exactly what he said and I can understand it. Now, If lying on Crawford was a person it would be a hater.
Great quote from The Acorn, so true. I guarantee that if a poll was taken amongst old, long retired fighters about the state of boxing today, most of them would say "they don't know how to fight" And they would be right.
