Terence Crawford has shared the ring with a number of heavy hitters during his career, including Canelo Alvarez and Errol Spence Jr.
The 38-year-old from Omaha has had a stellar professional career to date, winning world titles in five weight divisions since he entered the paid ranks back in 2008.
‘Bud’ picked up what was at the time the biggest win of his career in July of 2023 when he stopped countryman Spence in the ninth round of their Las Vegas showdown to become the first undisputed welterweight champion of the ‘four belt’ era.
Fast-forward just over two years and Crawford racked up yet another legacy-defining victory over Mexican icon Canelo, defeating the 35-year-old from Guadalajara via unanimous decision to capture the undisputed super-middleweight championship, becoming the first male fighter to achieve this feat in three weight classes.
Speaking in the post-fight press conference just moments after he defeated Canelo, ‘Bud’ Crawford gave a surprising answer when revealing his hardest hitting opponent, naming Lithuania’s Egidijus Kavaliauskas ahead of Canelo and Spence in a surprising admission.
“I’ve been hit harder in a real fight. ‘Mean Machine’ hit harder than Canelo, to me, to be honest.”
Crawford faced ‘Mean Machine’ back in December of 2019 when he stopped the durable Lithuanian in the ninth round of their clash at Madison Square Garden, making the third successful defence of his WBO welterweight title in the process.
Kavaliauskas has proved to be a tough opponent for a number of highly-rated fighters during his career, including super-welterweight contender Vergil Ortiz Jr and 2016 Olympic Bronze Medalist Souleymane Cissokho.
