Terence Crawford isn’t entertaining a fight with Ilia Topuria, mostly because, until recently, the pound-for-pound boxing great didn’t even know who Topuria was.
Prior to Crawford’s big win over Canelo Alvarez on Saturday at Canelo vs. Crawford, the UFC lightweight champ said he’d knock Crawford out the first time he touched him. Crawford walked to the ring to the same song Topuria walks to for the fight in Las Vegas, but said it was merely a coincidence.
When asked about Topuria, Crawford doesn’t
understand why Topuria is doing that, especially considering they had a past face-to-face meeting.
“To be honest, I’ve never even seen this dude fight, I’m not going to lie,” Crawford told Uncrowned. “I’m not worried about that guy at all. It’s crazy how things work. I didn’t even know who he was. When he saw me at the UFC and came up and shook my hand saying what’s up to me, I didn’t even know who he was.
“But then I see him online talking about how he’d knock me out in the first round, and this and that. Well if you wanted to fight me, you had the opportunity to tell me, ‘Hey, I want to fight you, what’s up?‘ That’s fake. If I don’t like someone and want to fight them for whatever reason, I would’ve been like, ‘What’s up, man? What do you think about me and you fighting?‘ I’m not going to go hide behind the keyboard… and then be like, ‘I’ll knock this dude out,‘… I think that’s fake.”
Topuria called Crawford out again after the victory, saying he’d fight Crawford whenever he’d be up for it. “Bud” as asked about the post-victory callout, and feels Topuria is just trying to steal headlines.
“I definitely think he’s trying to clout chase,” Crawford explained. “I think he’d definitely get in the ring with me for the right check. That’s what we all do it for. But at the same time, he’s, I don’t know, I don’t know what the f*ck he’s doing. I don’t know what he’s thinking. He ain’t even nothing to talk about.”
After picking up such a massive victory, the chance to make big money is ahead of Crawford — whether it would be in a possible rematch with Alvarez, or possibly another big name in the boxing world.
When asked about a possible fight with Topuria, Crawford doesn’t see any upside, and says it’d be not even in the same solar system as the Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor fight in 2017.
“For what?,” Crawford asked. “What money would I get out of fighting him? Tell me how much I’d get out of fighting him. He’s not nowhere near on the level of Conor McGregor. Let’s be real. Stop it. Don’t ever compare him to Conor. Conor was [up top], he’s [way lower]. Like I said, I don’t know this guy. I’ve never seen this guy fight, and I watch a lot of MMA. Maybe I’m slipping, maybe he’s a good fighter. I don’t know. But I’ve honestly never seen this guy fight, for sure.
“I’ve seen Conor McGregor fight a lot of times. I’m just saying. Him and Conor, it’s night and day. … Am I going to make more with him than I made with Canelo? Am I going to make close? Listen, tell that guy keep up the good work in his career. I wish him nothing but the best.”
