Terence Crawford has secured his place as an all-time great and ‘Prince’ Naseem Hamed has been the latest former fighter to predict whether ‘Bud’ could have become the first to defeat Floyd Mayweather if their timelines aligned.
Crawford became the first three-division undisputed champion since Henry Armstrong when he sensationally dethroned long-reigning super-middleweight superstar Canelo Alvarez back in September, despite being a former lightweight world champion.
After the victory, the Omaha-born phenomenon was linked to a move to middleweight, where he could have claimed a world title in a sixth weight division, but the 38-year-old instead opted to end his career on a high and hang up the gloves.
As a result, the career of Crawford has been heralded in recent months, and his all-time pound-for-pound ranking has been up for debate.
Speaking to talkSPORT, ‘Naz’ explained why he believes Crawford could have potentially knocked out Floyd Mayweather if they collided in their primes, when quizzed on the fantasy match-up.
“Do you know something? Terence Crawford, for me, he had something else on a lot of other fighters, not only technically, and his boxing brain, his boxing IQ, but he had some within strength.
Some strength that was within. That was physical. You’d see him grab somebody and throw them across the room; that’s four or five times bigger than him.
I don’t know. I’ve never been asked this question. I’ve never really thought about it, but there would be a possibility of him knocking Floyd out.
Bear in mind, though, Floyd’s skills were on such a level in his prime.”
Despite often being compared to ‘TBE’, Crawford has always championed the skills of Mayweather, labelling him as ‘The GOAT of right now’ when asked where Mayweather ranks when compared to his fellow boxing legends.
