LAS VEGAS — Terence Crawford sat on the stage at his press conference ahead of Saturday's WBO welterweight title clash against Shawn Porter cool, calm, and collected. He was a man of few words.
You'll read this and say, 'Well, that's normally how Terence Crawford is.' More often than not, the saying is true. But Crawford looked different in his white track suit, answering questions, being playful with head trainer and friend Brian "Bo-Mac" McIntyre, and spinning the WBO belt with his finger while Porter's trainer and father, Kenny, was talking about the fight.
Things aren't the same because Crawford finally got the marquee fight he's been looking for since he reigned supreme at junior welterweight and now at welterweight. You could always tell in the eyes about a person's makeup. Crawford knows what he's up against come this weekend as he stands across the ring from the former two-time 147-pound champion.
For Terence Crawford, it's put up and shut up time.
“It’s put up or shut up in my eyes," Crawford said at the introductory news conference in October to formally announce the fight with Porter, which DAZN News was in attendance for. "Shawn knows what he’s going to be up against. We are going to give the fans a great night of boxing. There’s going to be fireworks from bell one to bell twelve if it lasts that long. Unlike other fighters he’s fought, I’m different. The more he pushes, the more I’m going to push. The more he comes, the more I’m going to come."
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Terence Crawford is a three-division world champion. He's won titles at lightweight, junior welterweight, and welterweight. But it's at 140 pounds where Crawford made himself a household name.
Crawford solidified himself as one of (and perhaps) the top pound-for-pound fighter in boxing in cleaning out the 140-pound division and becoming the undisputed champion in an August 2017 knockout of Julius Indongo. After conquering one weight class, Crawford moved up to 147 pounds. He didn't take a cupcake as he challenged Jeff Horn for the WBO strap in June 2018. Horn, who beat Manny Pacquiao, albeit controversially, to win the WBO title one month before Crawford decimated Indongo, was supposed to give Crawford a test. The Nebraska native took care of the Australian with relative ease in stopping him in the ninth to become the WBO champion.
He's gone on to finish Jose Benavidez Jr., Amir Khan, Egidijus "Mean Machine" Kavaliauskas, and Kell Brook to cement himself as one of the premier fighters in the sport. But the same question would always loom in the pre-and-post fight conversation no matter how impressive Crawford looked inside the ring.
"When is Crawford going to land Errol Spence Jr., Keith Thurman, Danny Garcia, or Shawn Porter?"
One reason was that Crawford fights under the Top Rank banner while Spence, Porter, Thurman, and Garcia compete for Premier Boxing Champions.
The fight boxing fans want to see is Crawford vs. Spence. Two undefeated fighters in the primes of their careers. Whoever wins would make the compelling argument to be the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter. Making significant bouts between two different promotional outfits was difficult. The two promotional entities, by hook or by crook, were able to make two heavyweight title fights between Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder. Those battles gave hope that Crawford would finally get what he'd been craving for.
Seeing the two classics to determine the best heavyweight in the world with the rival promotions working together to make it happen only got Crawford, who is typically mild-mannered and even-keeled in interviews, more irritated. He says it proved why the people who run the PBC kept him at an arms distance so that he couldn't get his hands on Spence, Thurman, Porter, and Garcia.
"Because I’m a big threat," Crawford said to DAZN News. "If I wasn’t such a threat and such a big threat to them and to their stable, then they wouldn’t be doing the things they had been doing. If Wilder and Fury can be made, so can any other fight in the welterweight division and the PBC stable. But they know I’m the biggest threat to any of the other fighters in the division. So they wanted to say this ‘across the street bulls—’ and that I haven’t fought anybody. So all I could do was sit and laugh at all the antics they are pulling and trying to keep me away from them."
With all the accolades he's garnered, the lure of a megafight continued to gnaw at Crawford. All he wanted was a chance. He'd point to his wins over Viktor Postol and Kavaliauskas as proof he beat top-flight fighters. Postol gave current four-belt 140-pound champion Josh Taylor and former unified junior welterweight champion Jose Ramirez runs for their money before coming up short. People tend to forget Postol took Crawford the distance since 2014. Kavaliauskas gave rising star and top welterweight contender Vergil Ortiz his most significant test to date.
But let's not mistake this fight happening because PBC was knocking at Top Rank's door to secure it. It came down to the WBO ordering the fight since Porter was the top contender. Crawford wasn't going to hand over his belt, and Porter's never turned a big fight down in his career. A deal between both parties was struck before going to a purse bid.
According to BetMGM, Crawford is a 6-1 favorite to beat Porter. Suppose Crawford can beat Porter and secure the victory. Then, the conversation ramps back up about a fight with Spence, Thurman, and Garcia. These are the fights Crawford's been looking for his entire career. He feels the onus shouldn't be on him for them not happening until now.
"It’s a business move for them," Crawford said. "At the end of the day, they want to keep as much of the money in house as they can. I don’t knock them for that, but at the same time but it’s bad for the sport to have that excuse to say, ‘Oh, he’s across the street'. That’s just bulls— and pure nonsense."
If Crawford does as the odds and pundits indicate, the 34-year-old still wants the most formidable challenges out there, whether it's Spence, Thurman, Garcia, Yordenis Ugas, Taylor, or Jermell Charlo.
First things first for "Bud." Before the chatter starts, there's bout with the rugged Porter, a former two-time welterweight champion who has been in the ring with Spence, Thurman, Garcia, and Brook. He pushed Spence to the limit in losing a narrow decision in one of the best fights of the year in 2019. He lost close decisions to Brook and Thurman when they were in their primes. But he beat Garcia and Ugas when they were at their best.
Crawford's knocked out his last eight opponents and 11 of his last 12 dating back to 2015. However, Porter's never been stopped and only been sent to the canvas in his win over Adrien Broner and Spence. He's a bulldog inside the squared circle with his constant pressure and power in both hands.
Porter is at the top of his game, and the opponent Crawford's been looking for to quiet all the naysayers. A win does that. On the other hand, a loss would validate those who say Crawford could never beat the cream of the crop.
After Saturday night, life changes one way or another for Terence Crawford.