After brutally dismantling Errol Spence Jr. to become the undisputed welterweight champion, there is no question that Terence Crawford is the number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world.
Naoya Inoue held that spot definitively on July 25 with his stoppage of Stephen Fulton and it was assumed that Crawford would need to do something spectacular to knock “The Monster” off of his perch.
He did just that in the performance of a lifetime against a fighter who has never needed to do so much as change his facial expression in a fight. Spence’s journey as a career-long welterweight saw him collect three of the four major 147-pound titles the hard way by taking them one by one against stellar opposition.
The undisputed title fight with Crawford — who had been on the outside looking in during his time at Top Rank — was widely regarded as a true 50-50 fight and one of the biggest in the sport. But when asked if Spence would be his toughest test, Crawford shrugged off the notion and routinely stated that he wouldn’t know until they got in the ring.
Crawford did to Spence what he did to most of his opponents and handed out a savage beatdown that worsened as the rounds wore on. Outside of a first round that saw Spence work the jab while Crawford took stock of his opponent’s approach, this was a masterfully executed outing that will be remembered as one of the most scintillating one-sided drubbings between two pound-for-pound stars.
MORE: Crawford stops Spence to become two-time undisputed
Rather than ask whether Crawford is the best in the world right now, it’s a good time to discuss how the product of Omaha, Nebraska is on the cusp of being recognized as the greatest welterweight of all time.
This is the case that can be made for and against Terence Crawford.
Terence Crawford is the greatest welterweight of all time
Since arriving at 147 pounds in 2018, Crawford has mowed down the competition with eight wins and eight stoppages. He started his journey to undisputed by ripping apart Jeff Horn for the WBO championship and wrecked the likes of Shawn Porter, Kell Brook, Amir Khan and Egidijus Kavaliauskas.
There were questions surrounding the strength of his schedule and it was expected that Spence would test him more than he had ever been tested in any of his previous 39 career fights. And Crawford answered those questions with a blistering performance. He’s the first undisputed 147-pound champion in the four-belt era but does he immediately enter the conversation as the best welterweight of all time?
Of course.
MORE: The full list of undisputed boxing champions
For many, Sugar Ray Leonard is the G.O.A.T. at welterweight. The boxing legend went 22-1 with 16 knockouts. His lone loss was dropping a decision to Roberto Duran and he would get his revenge five months later by making “Hands of Stone” quit.
Floyd Mayweather is also considered one of the best welterweights to compete as he went 12-0 with three knockouts and victories over Zab Judah, Manny Pacquiao, Shane Mosley and Juan Manuel Marquez.
Sugar Ray Robinson immediately comes to mind as the greatest 147-pound fighter ever but there simply isn’t a lot of footage of Robinson competing in the weight class. There are also the likes of Kid Gavilan, Emile Griffith and Jose Napoles. But for the sake of this conversation, we’ll leave them due to the lack of footage and frame this around the past 50 years of welterweights.
Crawford has a legitimate argument to be a better welterweight than Mayweather with the victory over Spence. As great as Mayweather was, 147 pounds didn’t necessarily see him face the best opposition of his lauded career. The names on the resume overshadow the advantages Mayweather had.
Juan Manuel Marquez was too small, while Shane Mosley wasn’t quite the fighter he was several years back. Manny Pacquiao was clearly on the wrong side of his career and Zab Judah’s best years were behind him. The truth of the matter is that Mayweather didn’t face a pound-for-pound peer at welterweight as Crawford did. And Crawford took a career welterweight and systematically beat him down.
As for Leonard, he came up during the fiercest crop of welterweights the sport had ever seen with Duran, Tommy Hearns and Wilfred Benitez. The fact remains that he did drop a decision to the legendary Duran and some feel that Leonard took advantage of the Panamanian’s lifestyle choices that saw him balloon in weight between fights. There’s absolutely no denying that Leonard’s come-from-behind TKO of Hearns is one of the definitive performances of his career.
But Crawford’s steamrolling of the opposition has been absolutely astounding. His combination of power, speed, defense, finishing ability and boxing IQ are unrivaled in today's current crop of welterweights.
He's proven to be absolutely unstoppable and perhaps the idea that he could go down as the greatest 147-pound fighter of all-time isn't out of reach.
Terence Crawford is not the greatest welterweight of all time...yet
What Crawford has working against him is that his time at 147 pounds hasn't been long and his career isn't over. There is still room for failure and that pristine 8-0 record with eight knockouts crumbles if he ends up losing before he completes his career.
Not to mention that the resume before Spence is relatively thin compared to other greats and only time will tell if "The Truth" will be recognized as one of the best welterweights ever.
It's really, really difficult to discount what Sugar Ray Leonard did despite the loss to Duran. No matter how dominant Crawford has been during his tenure at welterweight, comparing any of his opponents to Hearns or Duran feels blasphemous at this current point in time.
MORE: The Sporting News' pound-for-pound rankings
To be honest, Crawford might be closer to Donald Curry than he is Sugar Ray Leonard. Curry was a terror in the welterweight division in the 1980s. He became the undisputed welterweight champion by stopping previously unbeaten Milton McCrory in just two rounds and also owns a pair of victories over Marlon Starling.
The constant knockout threat appeared to be unbeatable and was considered as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world with a record of 25-0 and 20 KOs. That all came crashing down when Lloyd Honeyghan shocked the world by pulling off a massive upset and making Curry quit after the sixth round.
Not to say that will happen to Crawford, but there's a possibility that this conversation is a bit premature coming off the heels of the biggest win of his career.
Regardless of which side you are on, one thing is for sure: Terence Crawford deserves to have his name in the conversation as one of the best welterweights in the history of the sport.