Terence Crawford is known for being calm and collected when going about his business, but a recent altercation saw a different side come out.
The four-division world champion has always let his fists do the talking rather than falsely hyping up contests with fake feuds and controversies.
However, he has recently been drawn into a beef with super-lightweight world champion Teofimo Lopez, who will seemingly do all he can to move up two divisions for the challenge.
“He see me and he’s laughing like ‘when we gonna fight?’ I checked his dad because his dad slapped my shoulder trying to get some attention after my fight … I said if you ever put your motherf***ing hands on me again I’m gonna beat your ass. He was like ‘we just want the fight.’
Teo’s like ‘you wanna fight outside?’ I said yeah we’re gonna fight outside, motherf***er. What you talking about? Your dad hit me outside the ring. Yeah I’m gonna beat your ass outside the ring.”
Speaking on the Front Row with Mack & Rick podcast, Lopez recalled the altercation but dismissed any offer to settle it outside of the ropes. He also doubled down on calling Crawford a ‘monkey’ despite severe backlash – something he has justified as an innocent analogy but one that he knew would cause a stir.
“When it got to the point he was jabbing like this and ended up poking my face, I lost my s**t and security was there trying to hold me down. I don’t play that … So yeah, sitting back it was like ‘how am I gonna get this motherf***er?’ I was like I know this is gonna cause some friction, all right, well f**k you, you’re a monkey to me right now. It is what it is. The fight game. That’s when we’re gonna throw down.
What did he say? He said outside the ring. I don’t play by those rules. Me? I just don’t. My business is in the ring, it’s not outside the ring. Cause, truth be told, a lot of things can happen south. And we don’t need to bury people right now. We need to inspire people right now.”
Whether or not Lopez’ controversial words will help him land the fight he so wants remains to be seen, though it seems unlikely. Crawford continues to push for a fight against Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez – a two-weight jump of his own.
