Terence Crawford and Gervonta ‘Tank” Davis trade words

By Chris Williams

Boxingnews24.com

Terence Crawford opened up full blast on WBA Super World super featherweight champion Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis (20-0, 19 KOs) this past week after hearing him predict a knockout victory for IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr. (24-0, 21 KOs) when he eventually faces the Top Rank promoted Omaha, Nebraska native Crawford.

Crawford took exception with Gervonta saying that Spence is going to KO him. But instead of Crawford keeping his focus on a potential fight with the younger 28-year-old Spence in the future, he turned his attention to Gervonta by saying that if anyone is going to get stopped, it’s going to be him if they face each other. Gervonta fights at super featherweight, which means that either he would need to come up in weight three divisions to face Crawford at 147 or Terence would need to come down three divisions to face Gervonta at 130. There are too many weight classes in between the two fighters for a fight between them being possible. Even if Crawford could drain himself down to 130 to fight Gervonta, he would be so weak by the time the fight started that he would likely collapse from the first hard shot he gets nailed by Davis.

Davis was only giving his opinion on the Spence-Crawford fight, but Crawford didn’t seem to like it, because he opened up on Gervonta on social media shortly after that.

Crawford, 31, didn’t look good in beating fellow Top Rank Boxing stable-mate Jose Benavidez Jr. (27-1, 18 KOs) by a 12th round knockout on October 13 on ESPN at the CHI Health Center, Omaha, Nebraska. Benavidez Jr., who isn’t considered a big puncher at 147, was connecting with a lot of shots in the fight, and appeared to buzz Crawford several times. One can only imagine what would have happened to Crawford if he was fighting a puncher like Spence on the night. All those many shots that the gimpy-kneed Benavidez Jr. was hitting Crawford with might have ended up being knockout blows. Benavidez Jr. was able to hurt Crawford while fighting with just one good leg. What would have happened if Benavidez Jr. was 100 percent?

Here’s what appeared to get Crawford upset at Gervonta:

“I’ve been saying he’ll stop him [Vasyl Lomachenko,” Errol Spence said to Fighthype in predicting that Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis will beat Lomachenko by knockout when the time comes for them to face each other.

READ Spence vs. Garcia: Robert impressed with Errol

Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis: “And I’ve been saying he’ll stop Terence.”

Terence Crawford: “@Gervontaa, get off the drugs. Ain’t nothing getting stopped over here, unless it’s me stopping your ass. #facts.”

Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis: “Man, your soft ass ain’t doing nothing. Knock it off.”

Terence Crawford: “Show me I’m soft, then I bet I’ll bring the hoe out of you.”

Gervonta Davis: “Swing on me, and I bet you won’t swing on anybody else!”

Terence Crawford: “You heard what I said, and you can go get whoever you want to get, because we know you’re soft ass ain’t about what you’re talking about. You’re just going to go run for help, pu–y.”

Gervonta Davis: “When did I ever run for help? You don’t know me, and your sources are dead wrong. But like I said, swing on me, and you won’t swing on anybody else. Word to my mother!”

Terence Crawford: “Don’t talk too much now, youngun.”

Gervonta Davis: “You heard what I said. It is what it is, leave it at that. Try me! Dej loaf vc* :-)”

It’s hard to believe that all of this came about from Tank giving his opinion about out the outcome of a dream fight between Spence and Crawford. It’s ridiculous for Crawford to have gotten upset about it, because Davis is saying what pretty much everyone else is saying. Spence will knock the much smaller, thinner Crawford out when/if the two of them ever face each other. Crawford was a good fighter at 140, but he never really beat anyone good when he was fighting in that weight. Crawford’s anger at Gervonta was entirely misplaced. Instead of being upset with Gervonta and the entire world for thinking that Spence is going to knock him out, Crawford should be upset at himself for not fighting better so that those people wouldn’t be counting him out. If Crawford wasn’t struggling against the likes of Jose Benavidez Jr., more boxing fans would give him a chance of beating Spence. Unfortunately, Crawford is perceived as a fighter that never fought any of the talented guys when he held titles at 140, and he’s still not fought any of the quality guys in his new weight class at 147.READ Gervonta Davis vs. Abner Mares Los Angeles Press Conference Quotes & Photos

What you can say is Gervonta is a better fighter in his weight class at super featherweight than Crawford is at welterweight. Gervonta is considered the best fighter at 130 in the eyes of a lot of boxing fans. Next to no one is claiming that Crawford is the best fighter at welterweight. They think he’s a good fighter, but not the best at 147. Spence is seen as the best followed by Keith Thurman, Shawn Porter and Crawford bringing up the rear. Some boxing fans even believe Manny Pacquiao is better than Crawford, and they might be right.

Spence believes Gervonta is better than Vasyl Lomachenko, and he could be right. The way that Lomachenko looked in beating Jose Pedraza lately in struggling to defeat him by a 12 round unanimous decision on December 8 was nowhere near as impressive as the Gervonta’s seventh round knockout win over Pedraza in January 2017. Gervonta smashed Pedraza in knocking him out. Lomachenko had a lot of problems beating Pedraza. What’s interesting is that after the fight, Pedraza said that he still feels that Lomachenko is a better fighter than Gervonta. The results certainly didn’t show that. Right now, Gervonta is the young lion, and Lomachenko an aging lion that is starting to lose claws and teeth from age. Gervonta might have too much youth, power and speed for Lomachenko if that fight happens now. It’s in Lomachenko’s best interest to try and get the Gervonta fight made before he gets much older. If that fight takes place in three years, Lomachenko will be 34, and Gervonta only 27. Lomachenko might be too old by then to have a chance of beating Gervonta. The way they both look right now, Lomachenko looks too old. He’s not aging well in terms of his boxing ability.

Crawford’s entire resume was built on beating these fighters:

– Yuriorkis Gamboa – a super featherweight

– Felix Diaz

– John Molina Jr.

– Viktor Postol

– Julius Indongo

– Dierry Jean

– Ricky Burns

– Raymundo Beltran

– Thomas Dulorme

None of those fighters are guys that would amount to anything if they moved up to welterweight and tried to mix it with Spence, Keith Thurman and Shawn Porter. Crawford’s resume at 140 is paper thin when it comes to talent. Crawford never fought the talented fighters in the light welterweight division like Regis Prograis, Jose Ramirez, Maurice Hooker, Ivan Baranchyk, Kiryl Relikh and Josh Taylor. Crawford would likely beat some of those guys, but definitely not all of them. Prograis and Taylor would likely have his number, as would Baranchyk.READ Gervonta Davis: “I hit harder than Deontay Wilder”

Since Crawford moved up to 147, he’s beaten these two fighters at welterweight:

– Jeff Horn

– Jose Benavidez Jr.

Crawford hasn’t been fighting the talented guys since he moved up to welterweight, and it looks like it’s going to stay that way for the remainder of his career unless his promoters at Top Rank can make a deal with manager Al Haymon to setup fights between Crawford and Spence, Thurman, Porter, Amir Khan and Danny Garcia. I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for that to happen though.

It’s more likely than not that Crawford will finish out his career fighting rematches against Benavidez Jr. and Horn with the three of them facing each other two or three times a piece. In other words, Crawford will likely fight his Top Rank stable-mates, and not face Haymon’s guys. The problem that will ultimately keep Crawford from fighting the other guys is he’s with ESPN, and those guys fight on Premier Boxing Champions on FOX and SHOWTIME. If Crawford was a big star, then he would be popular enough to face some of those guys on PPV on a dual network deal, but it’s hard to become popular when you’re not being matched against the right guys to increase your popularity.

With the political climate in boxing today, there’s a chance that Spence and Crawford will never fight each other until one of them lets their management/promotional contract expire, and they then come across the pond to sign with the same management. By the time that happens, Spence will likely be fighting at junior middleweight, and Crawford will have been exposed by someone.

Gervonta will be defending his World Boxing Association Super World super featherweight title next month against former three division world champion Abner Mares (33-3-1, 15 KOs) on February 9 on Premier Boxing Champions on SHOWTIME at the StubHub Center in Carson, California.

Crawford’s next fight is still up in the air. He’s still resting up from his harder than expected 12th round knockout win over Jose Benavidez Jr. on October 13.