The trainer of Terence Crawford won’t be making too much fuss over his charge’s demoted status.
Brian ‘Bomac’ McIntyre, the longtime coach of the now former undisputed welterweight champion from Omaha, Nebraska, wasn’t all too bothered by the fact that his top charge was stripped of his IBF title last week.
Crawford became the undisputed champion at 147 in July with his dominant ninth-round knockout of Errol Spence Jr.
The IBF decided to strip Crawford of his title as he is unable to comply with a mandatory title defense against top-rated Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis of Philadelphia; Crawford is contractually obligated to give Spence a rematch, reportedly planned for early next year. Crawford still holds the three other belts: WBO, WBA, and WBC.
In a recent interview McIntyre indicated that while he felt the IBF’s decision was wrong and “biased”, the veteran trainer nevertheless is reassured by the fact that no amount of red tape can take away from Crawford’s latest achievements.
“It’s kind of biased how they treat Terence,” McIntyre told FightHype.com. “It’s kind of f—– up and sh!t. But you know we accomplished what we needed to accomplish. We got that undisputed title and ’47 supreme.
“They can’t take that away from him. Take everything else but they can’t take that. History being made.”
McIntyre suspected the IBF was under pressure by Ennis and his team to force Crawford to defend his title or vacate.
“It was probably a little pressure from—what’s his name—yeah the Ennis camp because they have been pressing for a while,” McIntyre said. “They’ve been pressing for the Spence fight. when the title changed hands, things just happen, it’s aight.
“We cool. We got what we needed.”
McIntyre was recently released from a UK prison after he was arrested on charges of attempting to board a plane with a gun in his checked luggage. A licensed firearm holder, McIntyre characterized his mishap as an “honest mistake.”
Sean Nam is the author of Murder on Federal Street: Tyrone Everett, the Black Mafia, and the Last Golden Age of Philadelphia Boxing.