Crawford proved everyone wrong again \u2014 now he\u2019s in \u2018rarefied air\u2019<\/a><\/p>\nFormer World Champ Hatton dies at 46 | 00:30<\/p>\n
While he may work closely with some of the UFC\u2019s biggest stars, Pratt never travels to fights with his athletes, stressing the work has already been done by the time they step into the Octagon.<\/p>\n
It was no different last Sunday with Crawford\u2019s $200 million headliner either, with the trainer disappearing to Palm Springs for a few days holiday with his young family. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo I watched the fight in our hotel room,\u201d he grinned, \u201cand on my phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cInitially, my young son was watching along too.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut as it got late and he was starting to pass out, I went into the bathroom so he could sleep \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
And as Crawford continued to build, taking three of the final four rounds?<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, I was cheering along quietly,\u201d Pratt laughed. \u201cAnd afterwards, couldn\u2019t sleep.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was just so happy for Terence.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has to be in GOAT conversations now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Terence Crawford won by unanimous decision. (Photo by Sarah Stier\/Getty Images for Netflix)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Asked what impressed him most about the win from a physical standpoint, Pratt continued: \u201cWhen you\u2019re up against a guy like Canelo, who is considered the bigger guy, the stronger guy, the heavier hitter, you would think receiving shots might eventually weigh on that person.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut Terence\u2019s pace, his speed, his output, nothing slowed down.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what impressed me most.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis ability to use his new body, or new rig \u2013 call it what you like \u2013 and still able to box the way he did \u2026 it was wonderful to watch.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pratt also praised Crawford\u2019s work in the clinch.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere he didn\u2019t look understrength,\u201d the Aussie continued, \u201cand wasn\u2019t gassing from those exchanges.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen when he broke away and kept his distance, his speed was something else \u2026 just fantastic.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Pratt continually, and understandably, stresses Crawford\u2019s physical transformation was due to a large group of people \u2013 and certainly not him alone — know the West Australian is so sought after that his attention now turns immediately to a pair of combat queens: UFC strawweight champ Weili Zhang and American boxing star Mikala Mayer.<\/p>\n
Ironically, both are also moving up in weight to chase greatness.<\/p>\n
In October, Mayer is again moving up to fight for gold in a fourth weight class, while Zhang is herself moving up to challenge UFC flyweight champ Valentina Shevchenko in November. <\/p>\n
And both will also now prepare with Pratt, and his team, inside the UFC Performance Institute.<\/p>\n
Paro out to make a statement in WW debut | 01:50<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, the Perth native also stressed he was definitely open to working with Opetaia, Tszyu and Paro \u2013 the latter of whom has an IBF welterweight title eliminator in Brisbane this Thursday.<\/p>\n
After previously winning a world title at super lightweight, the Mackay southpaw is now moving up to a weight class boasting the likes of Manny Pacquiao, Rolly Romero, Mario Barrios, Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia.<\/p>\n
But to earn any of those names, he must first get past France\u2019s unbeaten David Papot (30-0-1) at the Pat RafterArena this Thursday. <\/p>\n
Elsewhere, Pratt has also worked with Tszyu previously, and stressed he would be happy to help with any proposed move to middleweight. Same deal, he said, IBF cruiserweight champ Opetaia\u2019s impending move to heavyweight. <\/p>\n
Jai Opetaia. (Photo by Chris Hyde\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cAbsolutely the offer is there,\u201d said Pratt.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe UFC Performance Institute is used by boxers, NBA athletes, Major League baseball players \u2026 and we\u2019d be happy to have any of those Aussie guys here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, Pratt said he could also sense Crawford was on the cusp of something special during what would be their final session on the Friday before fight week started.<\/p>\n
After initially spending the first three weeks of camp in Las Vegas with \u2018Bud\u2019, Pratt was then invited by the fighter to spend the ensuing eight weeks with him in camp in Nebraska.<\/p>\n
However, given his commitments at the UFC PI, the S&C boss instead drew up an extensive program which Crawford followed right up until they met again in Las Vegas a fortnight out from the fight.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd during our very last session, Terence just had this real air of confidence about him,\u201d Pratt said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was the same as before the Errol Spence fight.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou could tell, \u2018OK, this isn\u2019t just another fight \u2026 he\u2019s really on here\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Paro reveals big dreams for world stage | 06:35<\/p>\n
Pratt explained that the last session involved a series of hand-eye drills, where the fighter wore strobe glasses which, during the session, restrict what the athlete can see. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we\u2019re looking for entering fight week is to potentiate power and speed,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re the adaptations that tend to decay the fastest.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re not continually working them every five to eight days, they tend to deteriorate.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo we were looking to keep Bud sharp \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
And the glasses?<\/p>\n
\u201cThey just take away a fighter\u2019s 20\/20 vision,\u201d he said. \u201cThey wear them while moving around doing drills, or hitting screens that have lights flashing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat way when they do have 20\/20 vision, everything is slowed down for them.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd for that session, Terence was absolutely on fire.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo while you can never say you knew he would win, you definitely felt there was something different happening.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He\u2019s the Australian who played a key hand in putting Terence Crawford onto boxing\u2019s Mt Rushmore \u2014 and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":144250,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-144249","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-boxing","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144249\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Renowned](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/8020daebd700adad4f29d22446a0d93f.jpeg\")
Renowned Australian strength and conditioning coach Gavin PrattSource: Instagram<\/p>\n