By Chris Osborn
On July 29th, 2023, Terence “Bud” Crawford dispatched Errol Spence Jr. in dominant fashion. He did so with as much cunning, calculation and ferocity as have ever been displayed in a boxing ring. Most boxing insiders picked Crawford to win, but very few expected the domination that took place in this match.
Going into the fight, the matchup looked as close to a 50/50 fight as you could get, but gun to my head, I took Crawford by stoppage. Based on his usual ring activity, Spence had an advantage if the fight went to the score cards. Many judges go for volume over effectiveness (Leonard vs. Hagler). Crawford probably factored that in as part of his gameplan.
Spence is no slouch though; it was entirely plausible that he might figure out Crawford’s defense and out punch him. Not many figured on a Spence knockout win because Bud Crawford has a granite chin and has never looked to be in that sort of danger at any point in his career.
To add some context, Crawford once got shot in the head after a back-alley dice game, drove himself to the hospital, and was back in the ring two months later, stopping his opponent in two rounds. That ain’t the kind of guy you knock out with a single punch. Based on previous fights, you’re in the most danger with Bud after you land your hardest punch.
When Crawford gets hurt or bothered by a punch, he stops his opponents shortly after. It’s a trait that he shares with other all-time greats such as Marvin Hagler and Sugar Ray Robinson. You hurt them, then they hurt you twice as bad. The Spence fight followed suit.
Errol landed his best punch in the fight, and Crawford immediately knocked him down with a two punch combination. That’s one of Crawford’s greatest talents: he seizes every opportunity. He understands that there are things you can’t plan for, and opportunities that demand reaction whenever they appear. His trainer Brian “BoMac” McIntyre teaches this tenet so well it has become instinct to Crawford, embedded in his DNA.
In practice, this allows Terence Crawford to leverage your greatest strengths against you; feeling good after throwing your best punch only to have any opening attacked with surgical precision. You’ve thrown that punch a thousand times before, with great effect. You may even know you are risking exposure. But when you try it against Bud Crawford, he is too fast for you to recover.
Bud took away Spence’s jab in a way we didn’t see coming. No matter what Spence sent his way, it was returned with bad intentions. The counters were things of beauty; the resulting reactions left the marks of the beast. Once he caught Spence behind the ear, Errol never stood a chance.
Terence Crawford’s otherworldly skill was truly apparent during the Indongo fight, where he became undisputed champion at 140. Julius Indongo was nothing special, but people get so caught up in who a boxer beats that they miss how he beat them. Indongo is a lengthy southpaw who throws mostly straight punches, and his jab is probably his best weapon. Take it away, and you take away his left hand as well.
Crawford spent the first round figuring out Indongo’s reach, staying just out of range. He never countered the misses. Indongo lost patience and started overextending. Bud encouraged it by not returning fire. The second round saw Crawford start to let his hands go but did not force the action. He was still able to score a knockdown.
Indongo continued to overextend himself but now, Bud punished him for it, slipping the jab and landing a brutal body shot that left Indongo writhing in agony for several minutes. Indongo said after the fight that the pain was so intense; he couldn’t even think.
The win was dismissed because of how little people viewed Indongo as a quality opponent. If you paid attention, however, the mastery was all there. Terence Crawford has endured this sort of dismissal his whole career. Leading up to the Spence fight, it took on a life of its own.
They insulted his upbringing and the city he represents; they insulted his family, and his trainer. It it odd that fans of such a likable fighter (Spence) would stoop so low. After all, his charm lies in his mild-mannered confidence. By dismissing Crawford, they only intensified his desire to make them eat their words.
Terence Crawford was never supposed to beat the golden boys of the sport; he was meant to be a name on their resume. G
amboa was supposed to beat him. Bud brutalized him. Spence was supposed to beat him too. Instead, Bud dismantled him. Now they are predictably saying Spence wasn’t the same guy after his car accident, but it wouldn’t matter if they were the case. Spence took one single round; the rest of the fight he was hopelessly in above his head.
It has now been confirmed that Spence has activated the rematch clause at 154 lbs. He took such a bad beating during the first fight that you have to wonder if taking the immediate rematch might alter his trajectory as a fighter. Spence is good enough to become world champion again at 154. Why jeopardize that by taking even more unnecessary punishment? It’s not a fight that most boxing fans want to see run back immediately, especially since there are far more intriguing matchups out there for Crawford.
Bud then announced his intention to fight the winner of Canelo vs Jermell Charlo. At 168, a huge jump 21 pounds in weight to challenge for the undisputed championship of the world at super middleweight. Canelo summarily dismantled Charlo in a bout generally panned by fans and experts. Charlo laid down the entire fight and offered very little resistance throughout. As a result, he not only lost the respect of the boxing world, but also the opportunity to fight Crawford, as Bud’s Twitter (X) denote otherwise:
That’s an astronomical jump in weight to fight another top 5 fighter in the world. It’s also a no-brainer for Terence Crawford if he is chasing greatness at the highest possible level. If Bud were to beat Canelo, there would be nothing anyone could say other than he is one of the greatest fighters of all time. Pulling off such a feat would place him into GOAT contention for many.
Terence Crawford makes even the best fighters look ordinary. The way he does it is far more insulting than anything anyone could ever say about him. He has an answer for anything his opponents do, and he is unmatched at playing proverbial chess in the ring. His opponents think they have an answer to him, only to realize too late that he’s been setting them up the entire time.
