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LAS VEGAS – Terence Crawford appreciates anyone who places him atop his or her pound-for-pound list.
We have reached the point, however, that even the prideful Crawford considers Canelo Alvarez the number one boxer, pound-for-pound, in the sport. Crawford credited Alvarez for cleaning out the super middleweight division, in under a year no less, before a press conference Wednesday at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino to promote his welterweight championship showdown with Shawn Porter on Saturday night.
“Right now, Canelo is number one, being that he’s captured all the titles in the division, in the fashion that he’s done it in,” Crawford said. “But like I said, depending on which fashion I win this weekend is gonna tell it all.”
The 34-year-old Crawford feels that an impressive performance against Porter, who on paper appears to be the best opponent he will have fought in 13 years as a pro, can elevate him above Alvarez on obviously subjective pound-for-pound lists.
Crawford, a native of Omaha, Nebraska, has won world titles in three weight classes – lightweight, junior welterweight and welterweight. The WBO 147-pound champion has endured criticism for much of his welterweight reign, though, because until the Porter fight was made, he hadn’t been scheduled to face a highly accomplished opponent that is considered an elite welterweight.
He did stop previously undefeated fighters in Jeff Horn (then 18-0-1), from whom he won the WBO belt in June 2018, Jose Benavidez Jr. (then 27-0) and Egidijus Kavaliauskas (then 21-0-1) in three of his five WBO welterweight title fights. Crawford also became boxing’s first undisputed 140-pound champion prior to moving up from the 140-pound limit to the welterweight division early in 2018.
Crawford is ranked fourth pound-for-pound by BoxingScene.com, behind Alvarez, Naoya Inoue and Errol Spence Jr., respectively.
ESPN.com has Crawford rated second on its list, behind only Alvarez. The Ring magazine lists Crawford fourth among its 10 best pound-for-pound, below the first-ranked Alvarez, second-ranked Oleksandr Usyk and the third-rated Inoue.
“Well, I’m right there,” Crawford said. “You know, some people got me one, some people got me two. So, you know, I’m right there.”
Mexico’s Alvarez (57-1-2, 39 KOs) has won world titles in four divisions. He has soundly defeated three unbeaten super middleweight champions since December 19 – Callum Smith (WBA, WBC), Billy Joe Saunders (WBO) and Caleb Plant (IBF) – on his way to becoming boxing’s first fully unified 168-pound champion.
Ukraine’s Usyk (19-0, 13 KOs) upset Anthony Joshua (24-2, 22 KOs) by unanimous decision in their 12-rounder September 25 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London to win the IBF, IBO, WBA and WBO heavyweight championships. Usyk is a former undisputed cruiserweight champion as well.
Japan’s Inoue (21-0, 18 KOs) owns the IBF and WBA “super” bantamweight titles and has won world titles in three divisions. Spence (27-0, 21 KOs), of DeSoto, Texas, holds the IBF and WBC welterweight titles and has defeated former champions in Porter and Danny Garcia (36-3, 21 KOs) in his last two fights.
Caesars Sportsbook lists Crawford (37-0, 28 KOs) as a 7-1 favorite to defeat Porter (31-3-1, 17 KOs), despite that Porter is a former IBF/WBC 147-pound champion who has fought a higher level of opposition than Crawford. Their 12-round fight will headline an ESPN Pay-Per-View event that is available exclusively through ESPN+ ($69.99; 9 p.m. ET; 6 p.m. PT).
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.