LAS VEGAS — If you’re lucky as a boxing fan, a given era in time will produce the kind of boxer who transcends the greatness around him and becomes the default measuring stick for everyone who comes after.
In the 10 years since the Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao superfight effectively brought an end to the post-Roy Jones Jr. era that was dominated by both, fans of the sweet science have been witness to the exploits of living legends such as Canelo Alvarez, Oleksandr Usyk and Naoya Inoue.
But if the last three performances from Terence Crawford are any indication, which includes Saturday’s scintillating performance in Las Vegas by the five-division champion in effectively rising three weight divisions to capture the undisputed super middleweight championship from Alvarez, the era immediately following Mayweather-Pacquiao just might have its new best in class.
For all of the fight-week narratives about the size difference between the two fighters, or the extensive coverage dedicated to all of the peripheral elements of the event — from UFC CEO Dana White’s promotional debut to the presence of Netflix, Allegiant Stadium and Saudi Arabian financier Turki Alalshikh — Crawford’s breathtaking greatness will undoubtedly be the prevailing memory from the weekend.
In the end, the only size difference in the main event, contested in front of more than 70,000 fans in the first combat sports event at the NFL’s Raiders stadium, was that of the fire in Crawford’s belly, the remaining chips on his shoulder to keep proving himself and the surprisingly sizable gap in skill between the two future Hall of Famers.
Two years ago, Crawford appeared to finally get his flowers as an all-time great, at the advanced age of 35, when he dismantled fellow unbeaten Errol Spence Jr. for the undisputed welterweight championship. One year later, Crawford moved up in weight to narrowly outpoint the unbeaten and incredibly awkward Israil Madrimov to capture a world title at junior middleweight.
Yet it was Saturday, despite a 13-month layoff and some two weeks shy of his 38th birthday that Crawford bucked the normal behavior of aging legends in the twilight of their prime by risking his perfect record in a fight with so much at stake in which the majority of the advantages fell to the side of Alvarez for the prospect of almost unprecedented legacy gain should he be victorious.
Somehow and some way, Crawford ate the biggest punches from Alvarez and barely took a backward step. Even more impressive, he sat down to hold his ground and exchange heavy blows at close range during key moments in the second half, getting the better of Alvarez as the rounds progressed while showing incredible defense and adaptability to become the first male boxer in the four-belt era to win the undisputed championship in three weight divisions.
To paraphrase the Hall of Fame journalist and broadcaster Larry Merchant, who offered a similar quote following Pacquiao’s welterweight title win over Miguel Cotto in 2009: “We knew Terence Crawford was great; he’s better than we thought.”
Never truly motivated by money, Crawford prioritized his legacy and the opportunity to further prove his greatness with the matchmaking decisions he made over his past three fights, after finding himself on the wrong side of the street promotionally — thus, ineligible to land many of the career-defining fights available to him — for much of what we thought was his physical prime.
But like the greats before him — including Mayweather, Pacquiao and Bernard Hopkins — Crawford wasn’t just able to sustain his greatness into such an advanced age, he proved that true greatness isn’t always subject to the expectations of critics. Simply put: Crawford rose to the occasion and looked better in huge fights against Spence and Alvarez at 35 and 37, respectively, than he did at any point earlier in his career.
Sometimes, it takes meeting greatness across from you in the ring to bring out the deeper levels of greatness inside of you. And for Crawford, who was humble following the victory and noncommittal regarding whether he will fight on, this performance against Alvarez was a surprise to seemingly everyone in boxing but him.
“It’s not really a surprise to me,” Crawford said at the post-fight press conference. “It’s a surprise to y’all because you all thought I couldn’t do it. To me, it wasn’t a surprise because I knew that I just needed to get the opportunity.”
It wasn’t until the two fighters stood shirtless during the staredown at Friday’s weigh-in that most began to realize that Crawford, who held advantages of one inch in height and nearly four inches in reach, might not have been the smaller man all along, like most expected. He didn’t box like the smaller man either and once it became simply a battle of skills and IQ, Crawford looked a step ahead of Alvarez for the majority of the close and competitive fight.
Crawford had the punching power, after all, to give Alvarez pause. And he had more than enough of a chin to take every clean right hand Alvarez landed to his southpaw stance, which the naturally orthodox Crawford started the fight as and never needed to change course from.
What Crawford accomplished against Alvarez was simply humbling to behold.
Asked after the fight what his definition of greatness was, Crawford smiled and simply replied: “You’re looking at him.” And asked whether he feels his accomplishments have exceeded the 50-0 Mayweather, the humility that has driven Crawford to this place shined brightly once again.
“Listen, Floyd was the greatest of his era and I’m the greatest of my era,” Crawford said. “There is no need to compare.”
And when it comes to who was the best in the era he competed in, it became clear on Saturday that no one else compares exactly to the greatness that Crawford shared with the boxing world.
