Terence Crawford announces retirement

You do know boxers are not meant to sail off into the sunset?? It’s not true to the business you are in.
Everyone hopes of it, but deep down every fighter knows what it’s about and your lucky as **** if you do get to do it. It’s not office work.

you will get a few who did it all and still sail off fully content…like Lennox or Floyd.
You either have regrets of “I could have done more, or I shoulda stopped earlier”

Ali is the most recognisable boxer ever, has one of the best records ever and left boxing medically challenged because of it….he didn’t regret it! He knew what he got into and understood it. He was willing to die in there so coming out with a disease was coming out with your life but knowing it’s enough now.

 

Product of post-Mayweather era style match making (both by him as well as his contemporaries). He’s better than his resume overall, but it feels unfair to put him on a level with guys who were able to face greater challenges throughout their careers… for me at least.

Spence win is great, but its safe to say Spence was compromised on the night. Canelo win was also great, but the context makes it less great than many try to say… Canelo was clearly in decline for years, reigned over a weak division, and his losses basically revealed that his own “top pound for pound” ranking was largely a result of promotion… and I am someone who has defended Canelo against his detractors many times on fhis forum… I also LOVE Bud, exciting style, extremely versatile, and a great ambassador for the sport….

But something about trying to put him next to Ray Leonard feels wrong….

 

He’s reserved, bordering stoic, but he won’t take any shite from anyone.
Money and fame changes almost everyone’s outlook and perspective on life, but integrity shines through, you can’t buy Crawford, and it turns out you can’t challenge him, the difference with him is that the reality is that he has barely been challenged in any of his championship fights, and that’s just my opinion. So imagine how he feels as that man who’s achieved that.
He is aware of his capabilities and his accomplishments, and I don’t see a better way to sign off a career of such a talented fighter.
This isn’t a perfect retirement because of his achievements, it’s a perfect retirement because there’s no questions left to be asked.
Bud shouldn’t retire until he fights….who? Not a man alive has an argument for who he needs to fight, and the reason why you know that is because he isn’t the one pushing for it.
No one was calling for Crawford v Canelo that was all him.
I think you underestimate his intelligence if you think he believes he can hang at 168, he has no place there the same as canelo doesn’t.
It’s laughable that people call for boots to get a chance, I think there’s a talent there but he’s looked poor on more than one occasion, it’s a mistake that gets made when you compare Crawford to boots.
Crawfords work is that sharp it looks flashy at times because he figures out his opponent and times them and then turns it on and counters and a patient destruction of them, but boots looks flashy because that’s what he’s about he throws shots at aesthetic angles but let’s have it right here

 

…. He doesn’t figure anyone out he just fights his fight, a few heavy jabs and he gets thrown off his game, at times boots has looked bad.
At no point has Crawford ever looked remotely like anything other than a master tactician.
You either see it or you don’t want to see it.
It’s the equivalent of comparing bronner to Floyd, they both have a similarity but they are from different planets in relation to their talent.

 

Not to sound insensitive but Do you think there is any coincidence with Crawford retiring after the passing of Victor Conte?

 

I'm with you on boots actually, he is better than jared anderson but worse than david benavidez and in general way too open in a way jared anderson was, too.

The reason I named him as an example was that he is young with a will to win and not faded like canelo. Also they could have fought at a weight class, crawford is accustomed to, making it less of a freak fight which I am not interested in. Spare me eubank vs benn where one is drained and the other undersized and both bad. Canelo was faded and crawford could have fought better at a lower weight. Don't care about it.

Crawford murtazaliev would also be nice.

Btw looking at the madrimov fight i wouldn't say crawford barely was challenged. In my eyes and apparently the majority of the rbr section he lost a close fight. If he won it way by the smallest margin. But again: outwide of the weights he was most successful in.

 

Great post - spot on! Especially your first paragraph. Mayweather serves as the bridge from an era where it was taken for granted that to be considered truly great a fighter would have to prove it in the ring, and more than once or twice. Floyd had enough big names and performances in the first part of his career to be considered “old school great” and enough ducks / selective matchmaking as “Money” to redefine the business of boxing and “greatness”. After the Floyd / Manny / Connor McGregor shams, the next generation of boxing champs were primed to blatantly avoid rivals even when glory and millions of dollars were to be had. Here’s a list of fights off the top of my head that didn’t happen or happened too late:
Adonis Stevenson / Sergei Kovalev
Clenelo / Golovkin
Charlo / Golovkin
Crawford / Spence
Fury / Joshua
Wilder / Joshua
Bivol / Beterbiev
Clenelo / Benavidez
Tank / everybody
Shakur / Haney
I’m sure there’s more.
Boxing fans are now left having to incorporate criteria like amateur records and the “eye test” to gauge where men like Usyk and Crawford rate historically because their resumes simply don’t have enough substance to them.
And it isn’t just the fighters - it’s the promoters, sanctioning bodies, managers, and networks, as well.

 

Didn't really test himself until the very end; so we don't know what he was really capable of. He's closer to Joe Calzaghe than Floyd Mayweather or Rocky Marciano. Great fighter, undefeated, but what could have been?

 

As I always say... you can only fight what's available and you make the best of it. I don't believe he ducked anyone... he pretty much fought everyone that was willing to fight him. He didn't duck anyone like the guys at 154 are ducking Murtazaliev and he certainly didn't ducked guys like Mayweather did.

I have him rank higher than Mayweather.

 

Let's look at other welterweights who followed in the wake of a great man: Donald Curry fights Marlon Starling, Lloyd Honeyghan, Mike McCallum, Michael Nunn, and Terry Norris as a matter of course to try to prove that he was the man after Sugar Ray Leonard. Starling fights Curry, Simon Brown, Mark Breland, Floyd Mayweather Sr., Lloyd Honeyghan, and Michael Nunn. Terry Norris appeared most capable of wearing the mantle after dethroning Sugar, but got knocked out by both Julian Jackson and Simon Brown. At least, he's taking some swings. Maybe, if he never takes any chances, he goes undefeated for years too?

Mayweather was the GOAT of ducking but still has massive accomplishments. You can't put Crawford over him. Maybe, rank Crawford above Felix Trinidad, Terry Norris, and around Oscar De La Hoya level.

 

Good post

 

His name is Jesse Rodriguez and he is a unified champ at 115. Where've you been?

 

He just completely dominated an undefeated world champion. He's growing pretty damn well I'd say.

 

He's said he's retiring at 30. We'll see if it happens.