Terence Crawford’s career has been dissected, closely observed, and openly criticized since he first arrived at the elite level. Errol Spence Jr., by and large, has also chastised his upcoming foe. After carefully sifting through the opponents Crawford has squared off against, Spence is of the belief that Crawford has fed on bottom dwellers for the majority of his career.
For Crawford, despite being lambasted right and left, he hangs his hat on some of his awe-inspiring accomplishments. Amongst a list of accolades, Crawford smiles proudly whenever he reminisces about his days at 140 pounds. In August of 2017, Crawford capped off his flawless super lightweight run with a third-round stoppage victory over Julius Indongo. In doing so, the Omaha, Nebraska, native would become an undisputed champion.
But while capturing every world title at 140 pounds is his crowning achievement thus far, Spence burst into laughter as Crawford attempted to justify his super lightweight run. Although becoming an undisputed champion is impressive, considering who Crawford defeated in order to achieve his ultimate goal, and his subsequent form since then, Spence believes that Crawford’s undisputed reign was a bit overblown.
“I feel like that guy was not that good,” said Spence of Indongo during a recent presser in New York City. “Regis (Prograis) stopped him in the first round too. Who that guy beat to be world champion?”
In the midst of Spence ripping Crawford’s win over Indongo, the current unified welterweight champion was slightly incorrect in his analysis. Against Prograis, Indongo was stopped in the second, not the first round. In terms of who he defeated to become a world champion, Crawford was quick to point out that Indongo took out Eduard Troyanovsky via first-round stoppage.
A stoic Spence appeared dumbfounded by Crawford’s answer. While he’s normally familiar with just about everyone who laces up their gloves on the professional level, Spence had no idea who Troyanovsky actually was.
“Troy who? Come on man.”