A Hall of Fame great has backed himself to prevail in a fantasy showdown with Terence Crawford.
Crawford has proved himself to be one of the greatest fighters to have ever laced up a pair of gloves throughout the course of career, winning world titles in five weight classes along the way.
The 38-year-old from Omaha became the first male fighter in boxing history to win an undisputed world championship in three separate divisions last month when he dethroned Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez of his undisputed super-middleweight titles.
Aside from his monumental victory over Canelo, ‘Bud’ has racked up a number of other legacy-defining wins during his tenure, defeating the likes of Shawn Porter, Israil Madrimov and Errol Spence Jr.
Whilst Crawford remains unbeaten in 42 bouts since making his debut back in 2008, three-weight world champion and 2022 Hall of Fame inductee Roy Jones Jr thinks he would have been capable of defeating ‘Bud’ in a shock statement.
Speaking to Boxing News, Jones admitted that whilst he believes Crawford is a ‘very good fighter’, he says he would have been able to figure out the style of his countryman and get the better of him in what would have been an intriguing match-up.
“Not really. I like Terence, Terence is a very good fighter, but Terence grew up on Roy Jones. It’s hard to tell you these guys gonna whoop Roy Jones when they grew up and they still asking questions to Roy Jones about how he did things. So, they don’t fully understand Roy Jones yet either. So it’s hard to beat Roy Jones if you don’t fully understand him yet… He would have been something to deal with for a few rounds early, but I was a different guy.”
Known for his unpredictable fighting style, Jones rose to prominence during the 1990s where he established himself as one of the most exciting fighters on the planet.
Although the majority of his success came during his time at middleweight and super-middleweight, perhaps the most impressive victory of his career came in 2003 when he made the move up to heavyweight and dethroned WBA world champion John Ruiz.