Many boxing figures have named Terence Crawford as the best fighter from his era but David Benavidez doesn’t agree with that assessment.
Crawford retired at the end of 2025 after a remarkable career which saw him become a five-weight world champion and put together an unbeaten record of 42-0, defeating fighters such as Errol Spence and Shawn Porter along the way.
His most impressive win came in his final outing though, when he stepped up two weight classes to defeat Canelo Alvarez and become undisputed super-middleweight champion, the third division that Crawford was able to achieve that status.
Due to all of that success, Crawford has been deemed by a lot of big names as the best fighter of his entire era, but reigning WBC light heavyweight champion Benavidez has a different fighter in mind for that honour.
Speaking to Fight Hype, Benavidez explained why he believes Oleksandr Usyk has to be considered to have achieved more than Crawford.
“I think Usyk number one without a doubt. I don’t think nobody even comes close to Usyk because of the amount of big fights he’s taken back to back to back. Even at cruiserweight he was fighting the best fighters. Then he went to the heavyweight division and nobody really gave him that much of a chance and he went and took everybody out.”
Usyk is one of just two fighters to be undisputed at both cruiserweight and heavyweight, accomplishing it in the banner division twice after wins over fighters such as Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois.
He’s expected to return to action over the next couple of months, but after missing out on a battle with Deontay Wilder, he could be set for a shock match-up against kickboxing star Rico Verhoeven.
As for Benavidez, ‘The Mexican Monster’ will attempt to become a three-weight world champion when he steps up to cruiserweight to challenge WBA and WBO champion Gilberto Ramirez in Las Vegas in May.
