With Floyd retired, Crawford is clearly the most skilled and talented fighter at junior welter/welter. He'd obviously be a big favorite over any junior welter, for good reason. But you look at the welters, and even there he'd have to be favored over every guy not named Pacquiao. If the fight comes off, Pac will be the betting favorite, but I see TC pulling off the upset and schooling the old man. Pac is STILL the most dangerous fight for Crawford at this point, but I think Manny at this point isn't suited to defeat a guy as sharp as Crawford. It's one thing to still look like a superstar darting in and out all night against that yuppie sloth Algeri, and against Crawford he'd be leaving himself open to all kinds of counters. Pac aside, no other welter really offers much to TC. Khan would get destroyed. Cherry Garcia would get beat up for 12 rounds. Porter is just a crude guy with virtually no skills. It'd be interesting to see how Crawford handles the pop of Brook and Thurman, but neither Brook nor Thurman is the caliber technician that Crawford is. That leaves only ONE man with the talent and skill possibly beat Crawford.... Errol fucking Spence!! BUT, it's impossible to say right now how Spence would handle a fighter as good as Crawford, until he faces a legit challenge. Thoughts?
The only thing about Crawford that worries me is he'll have moments when he leaves himself open when he attacks a hurt opponent. It happened with Gamboa and even last night he got a little wreckless in there. I wouldn't like to see that should he face the likes of Spence, Brook, or Thurman because those guys can hit (Spence is a sharp puncher if not a KO puncher). Even Garcia can hit and he thrives off fighters making mistakes. That said, he beat Garcia in the amateurs and he's just a better fighter all across the board. I think he's better than all those guys with the exception of Errol Spence, who though he's unproven at top level, I still think his fight game of pound 4 pound material. I would pick him over the other top guys in the division, even though the danger exists. He'd destroy Porter, Khan, Bradley, Rios, etc. None of those guys have anything for him.
Crawford vs Khan would be hilarious. I suspect that the boxbot troll would do well for 2-3 rounds.... til Crawford times him with a right hook. Then, it's all downhill for Bambi.
Crawford looked good, but we have to rebember that his best win came against a guy that was half his size. I'm not ready to pick him confidently over guys like Thurman, Brook and Porter.
That's fine to have that oponion. It's just a feeling I have. Crawford is a special talent. Thurman, and Brook are not special talents. And Porter sucks, as does Garcia.
Probably. If Braddles looks good against Rios it's a compelling fight. Bradley really is in decline though. At this point I can only see him him hanging tough with TC but getting outclassed.
No, I would still make him an underdog against Floyd. Only guy from 140-160 who goes in as a favorite against Floyd is Golov. HOWEVER, he'd be a live underdog. Outside of Golov, Crawford is the only other guy with the skill and talent level to compete with Floyd. Floyd could win, but he'd have to push himself more than he did vs Berto or even Pac. And who knows, maybe at 39 Floyd no longer has it in him to do that. Still, I'd favor Floyd. My gut tells me that Spence has the talent to possibly beat Crawford down the line. It's a shame that Porter, Thurman, and Garcia are too scared of him. Like Danny Gift, who recently said Spence has "prove himself" to get a fight with him. But I guess Rod Salka was proven enough, eh Cherry Garcia?
I don't mean literally sucks. Usually when I say a guy is terrible I'm talking about Omar Figueroa or Peter Quillin. Garcia is a good fighter, just absurdly overrated and EXTREMELY protected since the Matty Ice win.
Garcia had actually managed to make a lot of top 10 P4P lists after the Matthysse win. Then follows it up by arguably losing to Herrera, beating an undersized bum in Salka, arguably losing to Peterson, and beating a corpse of Paulie. The blueprint is basically out on how to beat him. It's just a matter of the judges not protecting him.
It also seems like they want to wait and cash out with a big money fight before losing to a mid-card opponent. His name has been in Freddie Roach's mouth for a long time as a possible opponent for Pacquiao. They surely don't want to miss that.
Garcia is PBC. That's the only reason he's not Manny's retirement fight. He would be the ideal opponent for Manny to look good against in his retirement fight.
Garcia needs a big fight win and soon. Beating Khan again wouldn't prove much for me because I fully EXPECT him to do that. Garcia vs Brook or Garcia vs Thurman needs to be made in 2016.
Spence is a handful for anybody. But we need to see all of those rising stars facing each other soon. See who's left standing after the dust settles.
Gaymon wants to watch all his stars with bums instead of against eachother. As much hate as I've always given Oscar, at least Golden Boy fighters are matched tough.
Haymon fighters are all about making the most money while taking the least amount of risk. Garcia, Khan, and Broner represent that.
