Terence Crawford continues to carve out his legacy in the sport of boxing, and has recently paid homage to the heavyweight greats, naming one man above the rest.
‘Bud’ Crawford is currently a four-weight world champion, undisputed in two, looking to make that five and three when he jumps up to face Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez later this year.
Where he sits in the greatest of all time conversation will be a matter for after his retirement, but the names he will be looking to top are some of the most well-known in not just boxing, but popular culture entirely.
In a recent conversation with Mail Sport Boxing, Crawford was asked to rank heavyweights of both days gone by and the modern era. For today’s big men, he placed Anthony Joshua, Deontay Wilder and Joseph Parker in the ‘good’ category. He gave Tyson Fury the honour of ‘great,’ before placing recently undisputed champion Oleksandr Usyk in ‘legend’ status alongside George Foreman, Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis.
When it comes down to the greatest of all time, Crawford holds that spot for one man alone: Muhammad Ali.
It’s an opinion shared by many, with Ali commonly commended as not only a man who changed the feel of the heavyweight division with his speed and movement, but also a civil rights and racial injustice fighter outside of the ropes.
His boxing career ended a little too late in 1981 on back-to-back losses against Larry Holmes and Trevor Berbick. Prior to that, and in his prime, Ali avenged all of his losses and starred in iconic nights against the likes of Sonny Liston, George Foreman and Joe Frazier.
