Terence Crawford has accepted that there is one current fighter that is better than himself.
The unbeaten 37-year-old from Omaha, Nebraska is just over 40 fights into what has been a decorated professional career, where he has won world titles across four weight classes up until this point.
‘Bud’ has also captured the undisputed world championship at super-lightweight and welterweight respectively, remaining just the third male fighter in the history of the sport to achieve this feat.
He stopped Julius Indongo in the third round of their showdown in August 2017 to capture the undisputed crown at 140lbs before going on to repeat this at welterweight 6-years later, stopping fellow countryman Errol Spence Jr in the ninth round of their Las Vegas bout.
Crawford is now just over one month away from doing battle with Mexican superstar Canelo Alvarez as he bids to become boxing’s first three-weight undisputed champion on September 13.
In an interview with The Ring Magazine, ‘Bud’ revealed who he believes are the top three fighters in the world right now, ranking Ukrainian great Oleksandr Usyk just ahead of him in his pound-for-pound list.
“[I’m] the Ring number three? How y’all rating me number three? Who rating me at number three? I gotta go talk to them. [Oleksandr] Usyk number one, he better be number one. Over Usyk? I’m not over Usyk, but I’m over Inoue.”
Usyk, who became undisputed champion at heavyweight when he defeated Tyson Fury in May 2024, is widely considered to be one of the greatest fighters of his generation, and the overall best within the heavyweight division.
The 38-year-old wrote his name into the boxing history books once again last month when he defeated Britain’s Daniel Dubois in incredible fashion to become the first two-time undisputed heavyweight champion ever.