Terence Crawford has left a sour taste in the mouth of the sport which has given him fame and fortune beyond his dreams after he suddenly quit boxing on Tuesday night.
The 38-year-old from Omaha, who has been acclaimed as the best pound for pound fighter on the planet after defeating Mexican great Canelo Alvarez to join the elite band of three division undisputed worlds champions, had this to say about his profession: ‘F*** boxing.’
The wince which went through the hard old game was more pained than any hurt he inflicted on Canelo and Errol Spence Jr in the two key wins in his 42 undefeated career wins.
And he went on to say with a laugh: ‘I hate boxing. I don’t want to have to go back to the gym. I’m done with boxing.’
How quickly a man can tarnish his legacy, however great.
Crawford’s disrespect for his profession rained on the start of fight week for Anthony Joshua and Jake Paul as they arrived here for their event in Miami on Friday night.
Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford has announced his retirement from the sport at the age of 38
The American cemented his legacy with victory over Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez in September
Crawford made his debut in 2008 and won 18 major world titles across five weight classes
There were already stirrings of disappointment in the boxing fraternity for his refusal to pay the WBC sanctioning fee for their version of the undisputed world super middleweight title fight against Canelo.
Crawford took to the podium as no longer undisputed having been stripped of the WBC belt.
His outburst leans growing voice to whispers that he is unwilling to risk his record by facing David Benavidez, who not for nothing is known as the The Mexican Monster.
Crawford was also chuckling when he thanked Spence and Canelo for helping him build his now tainted legend – and then tried to undo the optic by mumbling something about needing to beat such great boxers before retiring.
Both Spence and Canelo wanted their chance to avenge those rare defeats.
And for what it’s worth I stand with the majority who believe the best pound for pound boxer today is a certain Oleksandr Usyk.
With or without Spud Crawford.
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Terence Crawford’s retirement leaves a sour taste in the mouth… he has tarnished his legacy and disrespected the sport of boxing, writes JEFF POWELL