TERENCE CRAWFORD hopes a win over Julius Indongo later this evening will cement his position as one of the top two fighters on the planet, pound-for-pound.
The unbeaten 29-year-old is vying to become men’s boxing’s first undisputed world champion since 2005 by fighting for all four super-lightweight titles against Namibia’s Indongo.
Already widely considered one of the best fighters in the world, Crawford believes victory over Indongo would prove him worthy of consideration at the very top.
“I think I have been doing a lot in the sport of boxing and I have had my name mentioned in the top three [pound-for-pound],” he said.
“I will be looking forward to being the top one, or maybe two after this fight. It just depends on how people look at it. In my eyes I think I am top two already.”
He personally considers fellow two-weight world champion Andre Ward the best fighter in the world. Though undeniably brilliant, Crawford has not yet broken through into the mainstream and has even been criticised at times for his level of opposition, despite scalping the likes of Viktor Postol, Yuriorkis Gamboa and Ricky Burns.
The Omaha, Nebraska switch-hitter remains unconcerned with such views though.
“I try to not think about that. I can’t worry about what the person thinks about me or says about me. At the end of the day I’m the one that has to go in there and take the punches,” he said.
“A lot of people criticise me for who I am fighting because maybe I am not their favourite fighter or maybe I am doing better than their favourite fighter, or there is a fighter that they want to see me fight and the fight doesn’t happen or it does happen then I beat them.
“Then they say ‘oh the only reason Terence won was because he is short’ or ‘he won because he was basic’ – there is always going to be an excuse with those types of people.”
