“Did you find what you were looking for?” Terence Crawford said to Dierry Jean during the post-fight interview back on October 24th, 2015.
These were the words spoken by Terence Crawford after his 10th round stoppage of Dierry Jean in the Century Link Center in Nebraska in front of his hometown fans.
The quote from Crawford was somewhat unexpected, as he is as mellow as a guy that punches people in the face for a living can be.
The source of the quote was from the consistent verbal antagonizing from Jean and his team during fight week, including a bold guarantee that the belt was going back to Canada.
Needless to say the belt is still located in the U.S.
If you were looking for the next fighter to ascend to the top of the pound for pound list, you might not need look further than Terence Crawford.
At first glance it might not seem so.
One of the biggest reasons Crawford is not more mainstream is because of his low key demeanor; self promotion in boxing is just as, if not more important than actual skills.
However, his professional record speaks very loudly and stacks up next to any current boxer today. Two of his signature wins have come against Cuban Sensation Yuriorkis Gamboa and Viktor “Iceman” Postol, both undefeated at the time of the fights.
Gamboa was knocked out after some competitive rounds and Postol was neutralized and completely dominated.
There has been talk of potential fights with Pacquiao and Broner for the past couple of years but nothing has materialized. Understandably so.
Make no mistake about it Crawford is one of the most “special” fighters in the world. Not talented, but special.
When you are able to start a fight orthodox and effectively switch to southpaw and continue to dominate a fighter, that is special.
(Becoming A Great Southpaw – Hat tip Top Rank YouTube)
Not only is he is technician, but Crawford has a vicious mean streak in him too, scoring 7 knockdowns in his last 3 fights and 20 KOs in 29 career fights.
The story behind his southpaw mastery is the stuff of schoolyard legends.
Crawford had gotten into a fight and punched a kid in the mouth with his right hand. Unknown to him, the hand and arm had developed a very serious infection.
So bad that if he had waited any longer to go to the hospital it would have had to be amputated.
While recovering Crawford had absolutely no use of his right hand and was suggested by his coach at the time to sit out until it healed up.
Crawford refused and worked solely with his left hand. The rest is history. He even said the strength of the left hand had surpassed his right and he had to get the right back up to par.
Crawford is looking to continue making history, boxing history, by getting a big name in the ring with him that will push him to that mainstream level where he so earnestly belongs.
Crawford has a fight versus John Molina Jr, which is with all due respect to Molina, an exhibition match in front of his hometown fans in Nebraska.
The fight itself is a big first step in what are hopefully more fights between fighters associated with the two gentleman named Bob Arum and Al Haymon, respectively.
If you are looking for one of the best fighters on the planet you will definitely find what you are looking for if you choose to look at Terence Crawford.
