Despite moving up to super-middleweight, and therefore putting himself at a considerable size disadvantage, Terence Crawford has named one other fighter who hit him harder than Canelo Alvarez.
The elite technician jumped up two weight divisions to face Canelo this past September, entering their undisputed showdown at 168lbs as a sizable underdog.
Even though his previous outing saw him dethrone then-WBA world super-welterweight champion Israil Madrimov, many believed that Crawford’s best work had arrived in the lower weight classes.
He had, after all, become the undisputed super-lightweight king in 2017, just a few years after winning and making multiple defences of his WBO world title at 135lbs.
Then, up at 147lbs, Crawford amassed a ruthless run of seven straight stoppages before ending his undisputed clash against Errol Spence Jr with an emphatic ninth-round finish.
That victory, alone, was enough to cement the Nebraskan’s welterweight legacy, not least because of the ferocious manner in which he dispatched the pre-fight favourite in 2023.
In terms of who carried the most firepower, though, many might suspect that Canelo, who he unanimously outpointed, was the opponent that presented Crawford with the greatest difficulty.
Crawford, however, insisted at their post-fight press conference that Egidijus Kavaliauskas, otherwise known as ‘Mean Machine’ was the one who hit him the hardest.
“I’ve been hit harder in a real fight. ‘Mean Machine’ hit harder than Canelo, to me, to be honest.”
While Crawford’s view may come as something of a surprise, it is also worth remembering that Kavaliauskas has a strong claim to suggest that he should have scored a 10-8 round in their 2019 welterweight encounter.
Ultimately, though, his debatable third-round knockdown was ruled a slip, with Crawford then eventually dropping the Lithuanian multiple times before halting proceedings in round nine.
