Terence Crawford has been praised as a generational great following his retirement, but one Hall of Fame legend believes ‘Bud’ would not have had such success if he had competed in his era.
Crawford defeated Julius Indongo, Errol Spence Jr and Canelo Alvarez in a trifecta of undisputed title fight wins at super-lightweight, welterweight and super-middleweight respectively, cementing his place as the pound-for-pound king and as an all-time-great.
Another man that was viewed as one of the pound-for-pound stars in the past was James Toney, who became a three-division world champion by claiming titles at middleweight, super-middleweight and cruiserweight.
During that time he overcame the likes of Mike McCallum, Iran Barkley and Michael Nunn in a sensational 92-fight career, leading to his Hall of Fame induction in 2022.
Speaking to About Boxing, ‘Lights Out’ Toney admitted that even though he loves to watch Crawford, he doubted whether he, or fighters such as David Benavidez, would have been able to compete during ‘his era’.
“No fighter from this era could fight in my era, but I love some of these fighters. I love watching Crawford, [David] Benavidez, I love watching them fight but you know what? I am being real with you, [they could not fight in my era].”
Whilst Crawford has hung up the gloves, Benavidez is expected to return to action on Saturday, December 12, against WBC Interim cruiserweight champion Michal Cieslak, in what could become a unification bout if the WBC decide to strip Noel Mikaelian of the full title before his clash with Jai Opetaia.
