Crawford is the best ever.

For me it all comes down to your point of reference.

When I was younger at LEBA meetings with my Grandad, I’d be talking up guys like Whitaker, Roy Jones, or James Toney — and the old-timers would instantly come back with Willie Pep, Canzoneri, Robinson, etc. I’d go watch the tapes and think “this looks like slow motion compared to today” — but to them, that was the pinnacle.

It’s the same cycle now. Every generation has their guy. For the old heads it was Pep, for me it was Whitaker/Jones/Toney, and for this generation right now, it’s Crawford.

Like Kellerman said on the broadcast: you can’t really compare across eras. People who saw Jordan will always swear by him, younger fans will say LeBron. Crawford is simply this generation’s Jordan.

 

Exactly — spot on. That evolution point is the whole thing.

The one thing they all did agree on though — no matter what era or who they thought was the best — was how much they hated the managers and promoters.

Anytime Mickey Duff showed up at a LEBA meeting with a fighter, all the old pros would be in that guy’s ear right away, warning him what a snake Duff was. They might have argued for hours about who the greatest fighter was, but when it came to managers/promoters, they were all on the exact same page.

 

He is up there that's for sure.

 

Definitely now in the conversation.

What impresses me the most is how dominant he is against all type of fighters. The Shawn Porter fight will get even more attention now with the fame Bud will acquire. It looked when he just went through the gears when it was said the fight was close. Destroying Spence was, for me more impressive, than the Canelo win.

It's sad now how Arum & Top Rank wasted some of his peak years.

 

...and Usyk

 

Well if you say so then it must be true.

 

Well Arum actually tried to offload Crawford during COVID — said he was unmarketable, sold no tickets, wasn’t box office, didn’t promote himself enough, and even begrudged paying him what he was contractually due. Classic projection. They should’ve just made the fights and let his talent do the talking in the ring. But Arum’s done the same with De La Hoya, Mayweather, and then post-Crawford with Shakur. All of them left him, and each is in the conversation as the best of their era. Shakur is basically Crawford 2.0, and hopefully the world gets to see it while he’s in his prime. That’s where Turki is a positive — he cuts through the promoter games and just makes the fights.

 

Mayweather would have beat him

 

So Crawford beats a past prime Canelo and now that means he can beat RJJ, Hagler, Hopkins, Mayweather, SRL, Hearns, Duran, PAC, Calzaghe, Toney, JCC, etc?

If they are better athletes today than in past eras, can you please explain to me why Canelo threw less than 30 punches a round over 12 rounds and was knackered?

I hear this all the time about them being better athletes, yet I lose count of the amount of times I see guys gassed by the mid way point of a fight.

 

Crawford certainly an ATG and best in his era by a mile.