Terence Crawford isn’t paying any mind to Ilia Topuria.
Earlier this week, Topuria came out of nowhere to lob shots at Crawford, claiming that should the two of them meet in a boxing match, Topuria would knock out the undefeated, two-division boxing champion in a matter of minutes. It’s a ridiculous proclamation considering Crawford is one of the best boxers on the planet, and Topuria has never competed in professional boxing.
At the Canelo vs. Crawford media day Wednesday in Las Vegas, Crawford treated
it as such.
“That dude’s drunk,” Crawford said. “A lot of MMA guys, they drink a lot, so he must have been on that alcohol that day.”
Topuria’s comments are likely a response to Crawford declaring Cody Garbrandt the best boxer competing in MMA, which Crawford then doubled down on at Media Day.
“There’s a few other people, but Cody is just one that always stuck out to me, before we were even friends,” Crawford said. “I looked at him and was like, ‘Man, this dude can box.’”
Instead of thinking about Topuria, Crawford is focused on his fight this weekend. On Saturday, Crawford takes on Canelo Alvarez for the undisputed super middleweight title. It’s one of the biggest fights in recent boxing history, pitting two of the top fighters of their generation against each other, and Crawford is excited about the prospect of that.
“I don’t think losing tarnishes me or Canelo’s legacy,” Crawford said. “I think that Canelo is a first-ballot Hall of Famer, and I think that I’m a first-ballot Hall of Famer. So whether win, lose, or draw, both of us are going into the Hall of Fame, and that’s the ultimate goal at the end of the day, to be named with all the great fighters that came before us, to be inducted into the Hall of Fame for all that we’ve done in the sport of boxing.”
That being said, Crawford has every confidence he will leave Las Vegas on Saturday with his third set of undisputed titles.
“I’m 1000 percent sure, now,” Crawford said. “You’ve got to think, going into a fight, you don’t know what’s going to happen. You could get injuries, he could get injuries. There are so many things that go on in a boxing match, the judges, the ref, preparation. So you’re not 100 percent sure. If a fighter says I’m 1000 percent sure, they’re lying, because you have to go out there and perform at the end of the day. And I’m more than ready to go out there and perform this Saturday.”
