Is Terence "Bud" Crawford An ATG?

I don't think Crawford being a great fighter or fighting scrubs are mutually exclusive, he has fought a lot of scrubs while still being a great fighter (although I'm not convinced he's as great as people make him out to be) . And yes, Spence beat all those guys , Ugas is a solid win, the Porter fight actually made people question a lot of things about Spence, Danny Garcia is another solid but not great fighter especially at 147, Mikey had no business being in the ring with Spence, Algieri and Bundu weren't particularly good fighters, just tough. And we all know how being a world champ these days doesn't necessarily mean anything about your quality as fighter, so beating a world champ isn't an amazing achievement in and of itself .

I can see the arguments people make for Spence being near a p4p list, on paper, but based on a combination of resume and eye test Vs hype, I honestly wouldn't even have Spence in my top 15 p4p, at any point

 

Your 2 cents are worth much more than that, Colombo. Great post

 

At this point yes, I can rationalize squeezing him into the ATG conversation. There are a number of WW and JWW's from history I think he'd have in hell. There are also a number of WW and JWW's from history that I think would have him in hell as well. But he's definitely in the conversation.

 

people rush to judgement too soon when a fighter is fighting. I think a proper assessment would be to wait until someone is retired a few years and then judge them after the hoopla has died down and perspective is clear.

 

Charlo at 154 will do. Plus that will make him a 3 division undisputed champ, insane feat

 

Honestly I don’t think he is. I think he could have been or maybe could be but at his age now the clock is ticking fast. He has some decent wins but the Spence win while impressive after viewing it a couple times showed me how good Terrence is but also badly prepared Spence was both physically and strategically. He looked horrendous physically, and a good example would be the Ugas fight where you can see a massive difference in his physical form. I’m not saying he would’ve beat Bud but he would have definitely made a better fight of it had he not been so depleted. As far as BuD , he has all the skill and attributes in the world but he has been poorly handled and wanted a lot of years against inferior opposition . Let’s see what the future brings for him.
Imo he should fight Boots next.

 

Tim Bradley says Crawford is the best fighter of his life-time :

“I think he’s different. I think we’ve never seen anything him like him in the sport, as long as I have lived – I can say that. Crawford is a winner. He’s physically strong, he’s not normal the dude is an alien.”

 

He would be just another Shawn Porter in any other era imo

 

Nah, he's clearly talented but his resume simply doesn't support it, you don't become ATG beating a couple of great fighters in a poor era.
i repeatedly say that boxing is about context, you don't know how good someone is until they gets tested by strong opposition, preferably many different styles. Stating "A" fighter beats everyone without having actually proving it is both redacted and flawed logic.

 

Great insight into flawed thinking which leads to creating hype jobs like Spence. Ugas was a 36 year old gate keeper who's claim to fame was beating a 43 year old Manny who had not fought for 2 years, so beating him meant nothing, yet fools thought it was a big deal.

Then the Garcia boys, one moving up from 135 the other from 140, and he did not even beat them up which again was nothing special and hardly evidence of an elite fighter, who would have smashed them both to bits. His best win was GGG left over Brooke.

He also went life and death with Porter which again is not what an elite fighter should do. He was never anything special just a 7/10 fighter.

 

Yes his resume isn't impressive but he can't be blamed for there being a lack of quality opposition. Fact is he beat everyone, avoided nobody and won every fight clearly. He is undeniably one of the best fighters of his era alongside Canelo and Loma. How can he not be an ATG? Sure he doesn't rank highly as many with better resumes but he's an ATG.

 

I think it's harder to separate the two than many would believe.

If nothing else, because it's easier to look skilled against less competent opponents.

IMHO you need to weigh up how good they look against how difficult it's been for them to stay in control of the fight and how good the opponent is is an integral part of that equation.

This is why, IMHO, resumes really do matter a lot - seeing guys in with a few top level fighters is what separates the best from the hypejobs.

 

No, it was gonna seal the debate on who was the best 147lb fighter Post May-Pac.