While Terence Crawford may have achieved plenty of success inside the ring, boxing legend Oscar De La Hoya believes one former welterweight king was superior to ‘Bud.’
Crawford called time on his illustrious career last year, just a few months after he picked up arguably his best win of all when he defeated Canelo Alvarez to become the undisputed super-middleweight champion.
Over the years, Crawford also became undisputed at super-lightweight, along with claiming world titles at lightweight and super-welterweight, but it is his time spent in the welterweight division that ‘Bud’ will likely be best known for.
He competed at 147lbs on eight occasions, winning all of them by stoppage, defeating the likes of Errol Spence, Shawn Porter, Kell Brook and Amir Khan on his way to become undisputed on that division too.
Despite all of that, De La Hoya told FightHype that he believes former rival Floyd Mayweather is ‘much more superior’ to Crawford, comparing the performances that they both put in against Canelo.
“Floyd Mayweather toyed with Canelo, like he literally toyed with him, he didn’t get hit at all, not one time. And Crawford, yeah, he’s more of a fighter-boxer – Mayweather’s more of a boxer – but I have to disagree [that Crawford was better].
“I think Mayweather is much more superior than Crawford, not just because he beat me and it was a close fight, or that I stepped in the ring with Mayweather, but I really feel that, technically, Mayweather’s a better fighter.”
Mayweather defeated Canelo in September 2013, while he also beat other icons such as De La Hoya, Manny Pacquiao, Shane Mosley and Juan Manuel Marquez throughout his career.
He retired in 2017 with a perfect 50-0 record, and though he looked set to return to professional action to take on Pacquiao in a rematch this September, there has recently been some confusing regarding the bout.