Former WBC and WBA welterweight champion Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman never got the opportunity to face Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford or Errol ‘The Truth’ Spence Jr, but he think he knows who will win their clash for the undisputed 147-pound championship of the world.
Omaha, Nebraska’s Crawford 39-0 (30) will put his WBO title on the line when he meets Desoto, Texas native Spence 28-0 (22) at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on July 29.
Thurman sees switch-hitter Crawford, 35, as being a little too athletic for the 33-year-old southpaw Spence.
“We want to see what they bring to the table and Crawford is just one of those special individuals, one of those special kind of fighters where he dominated the 140 division,” Thurman said to FightHype.
“He’s been holding his own at 147, although it took him a while to get some great names under his belt. He did fight Shawn on the back end of Shawn Porter’s career, but Thurman fought Shawn and didn’t stop him. Spence fought Shawn and didn’t stop him.
“Terence Crawford stopped Shawn Porter. You get some cool points on this side and you get a five-star rating. What else? He’s a light guy; he brings speed, he brings agility, something that I believe Spence has never seen. I always said Spence has not seen an athletic boxer like Crawford or Thurman, period.”
The one criticism of three-weight world champion Spence is that he hasn’t faced tough enough challenge since moving up to the 147-pound weight class three years ago.
“It’s not ‘can he beat these guys?’ He’s never seen them. So once again, the boy is athletic, he’s a switch hitter, lefty-righty, and he can do what he wants when he wants,” Thurman continued.
“I grew up with Crawford. We were at the same national tournaments and I know him and Spence are both elite amateur pedigree, but when you’re stacking the chips, Spence has that elite amateur pedigree, solid fundamental boxer, very fundamentally sound and sometimes that’s all it takes to win. Sometimes it ain’t going to be so flashy and that’s the debate here.
“Can a solid fighter like Spence, who when you talk about him, there’s not a lot to be said. He was an Olympian; he’s dominated the welterweight division, he has great defence, a fantastic jab, and can work the body well.
“But when you stack these attributes, they only reach so high.”
As much as Thurman is leaning towards Crawford, he is still realistic enough to know the fight could go the other way.
“Is he going to make E=MC squared? Is he going to give us a solid performance of fundamental boxing, a simple formula to outclass and outperform a dynamic complex fighter like Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford? The truth is, I don’t know,” he said.
“Truth is, that’s why it’s a show, that’s why it’s a fight, that’s why I’m going to be there. That’s why you should go, and if you don’t go, then you better know to buy the pay-per-view, son.
“Now, we have four world titles in contention between two men. That makes the welterweight division move in a certain way. That’s not going to last forever. There are so many great fights. Luckily I have a name, regardless if there’s a belt or not belt.”
