The trainer of undefeated former undisputed welterweight champion Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford 40-0 (31) believes the decision of the IBF to strip him of their title shows a level of bias.
Omaha, Nebraska southpaw Crawford, 36, added the IBF, WBC and WBA belts to his WBO strap in July with his one-sided nine-round beatdown of fellow lefty Errol ‘The Truth’ Spence Jr 28-1 (22) of Desoto, Texas in Las Vegas in July.
The 33-year-old Spence enacted the immediate rematch clause in his contract, rendering Crawford unable to discharge his mandatory obligation to the IBF.
The New Jersey-based sanctioning body stripped Crawford of their belt this week and elevated interim titleholder Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis 31-0 (28) to full championship status.
Crawford’s trainer Brian ‘Bomac’ McIntyre said it wasn’t fair but it wasn’t unexpected either.
“It’s kind of biased how they treat Terence,” McIntyre said to FightHype. “It’s kind of fucked up and shit. But you know, we accomplished what we needed to accomplish. We got that undisputed title and ’47 supreme.
“They can’t take that away from him. Take everything else but they can’t take that. History being made.
“It was probably a little pressure from – what’s his name? – yeah, the Ennis camp because they have been pressing for a while.
“They’ve been pressing for the Spence fight. Ehen the title changed hands, things just happen, it’s aight.
“We cool. We got what we needed.”
In a separate interview with Fox Sports Australia, McIntyre said his both his star boxer and Spence are capable of moving up in weight and knocking out WBO 154-pound champion Tim Tszyu
“[Crawford will] stop Tim Tszyu,” he said. “Terence would stop Tim Tszyu and Errol would stop Tim Tszyu.”
“He is a come forward fighter. He would run right into Spence’s hands. Run right into his hands.”
He added: “That’s the type of style Spence likes. You know what I’m saying? Come forward. It would make his work easier. He’ll cut the job in half. That’s my opinion y’all.”
Derrick James, who trains both Spence and former undisputed junior middleweight champion Jermell Charlo 35-2-1 (19), believes the reigning WBC, WBA and IBF boss would have too much in his arsenal for Tszyu, despite barely having watch the undefeated 28-year-old Australian box.
“It’s all for himself,” James said of the possibility of Charlo returning to the 154-pound weight class after an unsuccessful sojourn to 168-pounds where he lost a wide unanimous decision to undisputed super middleweight champion Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez 60-2-2 (39) in September.
“It’s not so much about redeeming himself for everyone else, because you can’t live for other people.
“But at the same time if he wants to do it for himself, it’s on him.
“If he don’t care about Tim Tszyu, don’t care about Tim Tszyu. But if he wants to, go get it.”
Tszyu is coming off a unanimous decision win over Brian Mendoza in October in what was his third fight for the year following knockout victories over Carlos Ocampo in June and Tony Harrison in March.
His next fight is expected to be in Las Vegas in March next year.
