Thurman tells Crawford to become relevant at 147

It should always no matter what should be unification>Mandos>money fights>everyone else.

 

I know that Keith has earned his position at the top. He has fought some excellent opponents and deserves all the credit for beating them. That said, it seems like Keith's approach has become even more laid back lately. Obviously I am drawing this conclusion based on the recent interviews that I have seen of him and could be wrong, but he does not seem as hungry as he once was. This could just be a natural progression for him as a champion, married man, and part-time hippie.

I remember how he used to bang on about Ben Getty being the only one who believed in him and seemed to have a genuine chip on his shoulder. He was ready to take on all comers. Now he seems more at peace with his accomplishments, less fiery. Bring back that One Time swagger, Keith!

 

Established champions moving up and getting an immediate title shot is somewhat the norm though.

 

It's a fair enough call from Thurman. Crawford will be very relevant at 147 when he moves up but until he commits to the division and has Atleast 1 legit big scalp at the weight he isn't that relevant.

 

"I agree, why the hell should a guy who's never fought in a division, move up and get gifted a title shot at the man in said division, without earning it, he shouldn't be allowed to cut in line, quite frankly Spence and Horn both have better single wins than anything Bud has on his resume. Let him face Garcia or Porter first, prove himself and test his meddle at WW and earn it first."

Or it can be the other way .. like in the case of these two ****** .. Marcus Beyer and Joe Calzaghe .. the year is 2006 ...

Marcus Beyer is the WBC Super Middleweight Champion. He has been the champion for over 3 years. He has had NINE title fights at that point. In his TENTH title fight he selects Sakio Bika.

In 2006, Sakio Bika has ZERO fights at SMW. He does not even have one of the MIDDLEWEIGHT belts of note.

Beyer vs Bika ends in the 4th round. Bika ends up with slightly over 10 minutes or so as an actual SMW.

The next ***** up is Joe Calzaghe. Joe at this point had been the champion (yes it was the joke WBO) for NINE years. After Beyer (Joe always found the guts to fight someone AFTER Ottke or in this case Beyer had already done so), later in 2006, in his 20TH title fight, Joe selected Sakio Bika.

Sakio Bika .. without a major title at ****in' MIDDLEWEIGHT .. is gifted his second MAJOR TITLE FIGHT in just six months. He has a whole 10 minutes of fight experience as a SMW and Joe "Pedestrian Robin Reid's Son" Calzaghe determines that TEN MINUTES of experience at the weight is the perfect opponent for himself. Of course, the boy knew his limitations as he did go on to struggle with that SMW NOVICE for the entire fight.

So, did anyone write here about this? Nah, it is ESB.

You see Crawford's black. When the ESB racists post, they need to get out in front of anything and anyone because their inferiority complex about brothers is so extreme. ESB .. where the gimpiest white boys without any athletic ability of there own spend thousands of hours making posts ranting about BLACK athletes. Truth hurts. But, it is the truth as anyone who is WHITE and drops in here occasionally can see. Can't actually be an athlete .. so be a racist (read the bulk of your posts, stupid). Doesn't take much practice for that. Just be an embarrassment to your family and you can find a home here ...

Meanwhile, Crawford is a champion and he wants to move up to test himself against the best at 147, because he is the best at 140. Interesting how only black guys have balls to do such things and oh how it bothers the same white posters - over and over again.

 

Crawford would deserve a shot late 2018 after getting a win at 147. That way he can have a fight to acclimate to the higher weight and prove he's able to handle bigger guys. He's a p4p fighter and one of the few unified champions in the sport. That should account for something? I don't think he deserves a shot at Keith's titles straight out of the gate.

 

That's only if they are a draw like Manny or Floyd. Or, if they are a tune up for guys like Manny or Floyd. Usually champions moving up have fights with ranked contenders as they transition to a new weight class before challenging for a title in a new division.