Welterweight titleholder Terence Crawford spoke to his fans during an Instagram Live stream, and took some time to discuss this weekend’s big welterweight showdown between Errol Spence and Danny Garcia. Check out some excerpts of how Crawford views the fight below…
“Let’s be real,” Crawford said during his Instagram Live stream. “If you know boxing, why should we consider Danny Garcia a top welterweight in the division?…And that’s my boy. I ain’t hatin’ on him or nothing, I just want to hear from the people.
“Can anybody tell me why Danny Garcia is a top welterweight in the division?…I ain’t mad at Danny. Danny’s my boy. I’m cool with Danny, I came up with Danny. I’m just speaking facts now. I’m speaking facts, because everybody always slamming my record, coming at my throat, saying this and that, so I gotta give it back sometimes.
“Let’s be real, Danny ain’t beat nobody in the welterweight division. He beat Paulie [Malignaggi], uh, Robert Guerrero, and everybody beat them if you ask me. So if Errol beats Danny — if, I’m not saying it’s going to be a walk in the park, Danny can fight his ass off. That’s why I consider him one of the top welterweights in the division. Not taking away his two close decision losses that he had. I got him up there but at the same time, if we going by what the media say, he’s not a top welterweight.
“You know, he lost! Did his thing, but he lost. I’m being honest, I’m keeping it real. The two shots that he had, he lost…
“Errol Spence, you know, he fought Kell Brook. He beat Kell Brook. Shawn Porter — Shawn Porter ain’t beat a top welterweight, ya’ll claim. But in my eyes Shawn Porter done fought all the welterweights there is to fight but Terence Crawford. Shawn Porter is another one that came up short in a lot of fights — well, a few fights — but he made ‘em close. Thurman, he fought quite a few welterweights in the division. But when we talking about the number one guy in the division, we gotta be talking about Terence Crawford.
“I really want [to fight] Spence, just to shut everybody up and see what they gonna say after that. ‘Cause I know it’s gonna be a lot of excuses and bandwagon shifting — it’s gonna be wild.
“I actually got Spence [winning the Garcia fight], but at the same time, I don’t know…I know Danny personally and I done seen him since we was little kids and he always rose to the occasion, each and every time. So it’s hard to bet against him. That’s why I say it’s a 50/50 fight. It was a 40/60 in Spence favor but the more and more I think with my head, and just think back to the Danny Garcia that I know, when he’s motivated and he feels like his back is against the wall and got something to prove, he always rose to the occasion.
“I like Spence too, I don’t got no problem with none of them. Shit, my thing is when it comes down to it, we in the same division, it’s business. He think he #1, I think I’m #1, and that’s where the friction becomes an issue. Somebody gotta be #1. We both can’t be claiming to be the best in the division if we ain’t fought each other.