And Crawford still hasn't beaten anybody as good as Floyd's 10 best opponents so I guess he is pretty risk averse as well.
Unlike many people here, I actually think Crawford has a good style to beat Floyd. People are looking at Floyd with rose-tinted classes on, but forgot that he struggled mightily against Maidana & Castillo, 2 offensive minded fighters. Floyd mostly fought midgets his career... rarely did he had to fight someone who was taller or had longer reach than he did. This gave people the illusion of his boxing ability. When he had to fight someone who had longer reach like McGregor, he didn't look that good. Crawford has a good offense, which is why I think he has a good chance. He's not a defensive boxer and those are the worst match-ups against Floyd. He's an offensive-minded fighter who will take the fight to Floyd and win rounds on activity. I think both Spence & Crawford have a decent chance to beat Floyd. They're both rangy offense-minded fighters with good power. In Spence's case, he's a southpaw and that presents extra problems for Floyd.
I'm sure he believes he would, he should believe that, however I said this a few years ago....... Floyd UD. You can't outbox Floyd and even have a chance, you have to outbrawl him. And Crawford (mean streak and all), ain't a brawler, he's a thinker in the ring. Floyd's mind processes moves too fast.
I saw this interview years ago and without a doubt probably the best breakdown of what it's like to be in the ring with pbf. I've always said pbfs vision is one of his best assets. As for Crawford hell no he doesn't beat pbf, levels. All Crawford has over pbf is power really.
Crawford's reach is why I think he'd be favored. Floyd almost always had a reach advantage and frequently enjoyed a massive reach advantage (5" vs Pac, 7" vs Hatton). He was brilliant at setting the distance just within his punching range but outside his opponent's. So you end up with fights like Pacquiao & Canelo where they spend most of their time trying to set a distance that they can't set. To his credit, Hatton dealt with the reach issue by bullrushing Floyd and had some early success, he just didn't have the ability to sustain it. Floyd was just a different level fighter. But note that prime Floyd had issues against old man ODLH because Hoya had a one inch reach advantage. He was able to reach Floyd with his jab at a range that Floyd was unaccustomed to. Of course, during the second half of that fight Mayweather made some important adjustments and ODLH fatigued. But Crawford has a two-inch reach advantage and tends to come on late. He's athletically not quite where Floyd is but it's close. He's also a much harder puncher. I think Floyd would be favored substantially against Spence. They have the same reach and Spence is too open to counters.
First pbf was 37 and faded when he fought maidana and was carrying and toying with McGregor while being almost 40. You can't use fights of a faded guy to make a case as to why he would lose a fight. Let's see Crawford at 37 and see how he looks my guess would be not as good as pbf did or as good as he was in his prime. Lastly you act as if pbf didn't face offensive fighters most fighters are offensive first defense second fighters. He fought plenty of pressure fighters boxer punchers swarmers sluggers you name it. Ultimately the fight between pbf and Crawford would be fought at pbfs pace he was the master of lowering his opponents work rate and making them fight his fught. Crawford could beat the 37 and faded pbf who fought maidana but he's sure as hell aint isn't going to outbox a 29 year old prime pbf to a win you're high if you think he can.
You acting as if Crawford were leagues above Manny. Plus I don´t think it´s fair to overlook Floyd´s age that night. Let´s see how Bud performs at 38. It´s like bringing up Gamboa when predicting upcoming Bud fights. Also, Crawford never beat anyone as good as Floyd. See how nonsensical that type of argument is?
X2 exactly as I see it. When someone has to point to fights late in Floyd's career, it just shows desperation. Look at how dominant he was. Desperate people repeat this "Castillo/Maidana" mantra over and over cause they got nothing else to criticize, but all ATGs have had their kryptonite in that ring. Yall musta forgot. Floyd is a true, bona fide ATG, who's highly sophisticated and advanced skills are a nightmare for almost anyone that ever laced them up. Clear UD for Mayweather over Crawford.
That's what he's supposed to say, he has the record to make a credible case for himself too although I still think Floyd is two levels above but he'd have to dig deep into his arsenal.
No, outside of switching, Crawford does nothing better than Floyd. Floyd had the better defense, footwork, ring IQ, could fight from all range, better chin, and he makes adjustments within rounds not round after round. Tbf, I'm not sure Crawford beats Cotto, Mosley (past prime), Oscar (past prime), or even Augustus.
I think Crawford could have beaten Floyd by simply outworking him. Crawford doesn't have cement feet like Canelo and I don't think Mayweather would have an easy time tying him up like he did to Pacquaio. I also think Crawford would be able to change angles since he's a switch and break Mayweather's shell defense. I'd favor Mayweather but it's probably a close, competitve fight either way.
