Despite taking on Canelo Alvarez at 168lbs, Terence Crawford has revealed it was a fighter at 147lbs who hit him the hardest in his career.
Crawford moved up two divisions to super-middleweight to challenge Canelo for his undisputed crown at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas back in September.
Many fans thought the size difference would be too much for the naturally smaller Crawford, but he proved the doubters wrong by dominating the majority of the action on his way to a unanimous decision win.
The American has since called time on his professional career, hanging up the gloves with a perfect 42-0 record, leading fans to debate who they believe may have been the biggest puncher that ‘Bud’ had ever faced.
To many, Canelo would be the logical choice, with 39 knockout victories to his name, one of them even coming as high as light heavyweight against Sergey Kovalev.
Crawford ended any of that speculation though when he revealed that Canelo wasn’t the hardest hitter, instead claiming that Lithuanian boxer Egidijus ‘Mean Machine’ Kavaliauskas was who did the most damage.
“I’ve been hit harder in a real fight. ‘Mean Machine’ [Kavaliauskas] hit harder than Canelo, to me, to be honest.”
Crawford defended his WBO welterweight title against Kavaliauskas back in December 2019, claiming a ninth round stoppage victory to retain his belt.
‘Mean Machine’ last competed in November when he defeated Samuel Molina to win the European welterweight title, with his record currently standing at 24 wins from 28 fights, 19 of those victories coming by knockout.
