I said this around 4 years ago. I still believe at 135 Mosley beats him. 4 years of watching his progression, at 147 I think Crawford was much more complete. I think he may actually beat Shane there. He has enough to discourage Shane which is Shane's kryptonite. Shane probably more than any other modern fighter, his ability is based on his confidence, you can see it on his face and how he gets discouraged and falls apart and gets sloppy. Crawford in the clinch at 147 would not be like him in the clinch at 135, he's much, much stronger. Shane gets sloppy against Crawford he'll dig a hole he won't get out of . Crawford won't stop him, but he'd definitely turn Mosley "off".
Only person other than Bud that would be a reasonable #1 is Usyk imo. I wouldn't argue against someone if they had Usyk at 1. That being said, Inoue and Tank are not as good as Bud is.
How so? Crawford didn't look like the normal Crawford, but he didn't really struggle either. It was a highly contested fight between 2 guys that can counter, and have very good timing. Throw in the fact Madrimov has a unique, herky, Jerky style, and it was Crawford's 1st fight at 154. I keep him in the top 3 still.
This fight doesn’t change anything. It’s his 4th division. Some people can’t comprehend what that means apparently. Usyk 2, tank 1. Bud has 3 complete different rosters he’s cleaned out. Now he’s working on his 4th new set of challengers. and people want to compare him to the likes of Maidana, lol. And he didn’t even struggle with this guy, he let him skip around all he wanted while just connecting enough to stay ahead. The only reason I don’t make him p4p #1 is because I don’t think Madrimov is as good as people here think. I think he’s 4th best at this weight. If that were Charlo or Ortiz, I would make him #1 by himself.
All the greats have had tough fights, it happens, especially considering how Crawford has been moving up. I still have him in my top three pound-for-pound.
I said top 3-4 is fine just not one or two. I scored the bout a draw, however 7-5 is fine for Crawford imo. It was tough fight to score. Imo Usyk and Inoue have the top slots locked - for now.
Anyone finding a way to squeeze Inoue and his shaky win over Luis Nery in a spot above Crawford is a few cards short of a full deck.
The 4th division argument whilst true is misleading. It's his 4th division because he turned pro aged 20, was absolutely gigantic for 135, a weight he only technically made six times, was much bigger and heavier than all those guys down there, with a freakish 74'' reach, and was rehydrating as much as 18lbs after weigh ins Was massive for 140, weighed more down at 135 against Beltran than career 140 Postol weighed against him at 140 (he was 5lbs heavier than Postol in their fight), and was rehydrating as much as 17lbs at that weight He was a very big 147 pounder too and he would've been rehydrating about the same there too. Hence why he never looked undersized against all those career 147 pounders, would've weighed roughly the same as them, and why he complained it was hard for him to make that weight, even more so than it was for Spence in his opinion. He looked drained on the scales He posted a photo of himself weighing 177 six years ago and he's always in very good shape even at walk around weight. Madrimov was walking around at 160=164 two years ago and whilst he walks around heavier than that now according to his trainer they looked about the same size at the pre-fight face offs despite it being Crawford's 4th weight and Crawford has a deceptive body and is heavier than he looks and even when you see him walking around in the ''60s-70s'' so at least the high 160s he looks super lean Haney was way bigger and heavier than everyone he fought at 135 and he still was when he moved up and fought career 140 Rougarou who is a big 140 and who really struggles to make that weight. He had a 9lb advantage on him This is just one of the reasons why Usyk is P4P#1, because he is actually fighting much bigger guys when he moves up in weight, giants who hold huge physical advantages on him and who hit ridiculously hard. And Usyk turned pro a few months away from his 27th birthday and obviously there is or was only one division he could move up to turning pro that late at CW. Had he turned pro aged 20 he would've been campaigning at MW or even lower if he was rehydrating a lot of weight after weigh ins It's the same with Loma. Look at how much bigger, and heavier than him everyone at 135 he's fought and he's not only always giving away reach but often a huge amount. Compare how tiny Loma looks at 135 to how Crawford looked at 147 or even at 154 which he still looked big at. He's still yet to be at a reach disadvantage in any of his world title fights at any weight and he had a huge one in his only fight at 154