Terence Crawford names the only boxer capable of causing him ‘problems’ in the ring

Terence Crawford has barely put a foot wrong during a perfect 42-0 run.

Every single one of his victories has either come by way of knockout or unanimous decision, with little to no controversy attached to any of them.

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The Omaha puncher stunned the boxing world in September when he jumped up two weight classes to snatch the WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO super middleweight titles from fellow modern great Canelo Alvarez.

In doing so, he became the first male three-weight undisputed champion of the four-belt era and joined an elite group of fighters to have held world titles in five separate weight classes.

Considering the body of work, you could easily make a case for Crawford beating any fighter around his weight, past or present.

But the 38-year-old candidly admits that a prime Floyd Mayweather would have caused him ‘problems’.

“It’s so crazy to say y’all never got to see me at my full potential because nobody brought it out of me because I was knocking them out,” wrote Crawford on X, formerly Twitter.

“I pay homage to the ones before me, but Floyd Mayweather [would be] the only one I would have had problems with, because of his mind.

“And I’m done talking about it, go argue with yo momma.”

Craw blimey

After Canelo’s wide unanimous decision loss to Crawford, the Mexican reignited a long, drawn-out debate that will never receive a definitive answer.

The words he uttered: “Crawford is way better than Floyd Mayweather.”

There are few better placed to make such a judgement than Canelo, who remains the only man to have shared the ring with both.

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In 2013, when he was 23-years-old, Canelo was dismantled just as convincingly by Mayweather in a defeat that lit a fire under the Guadalajara boxer.

The opinion of Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum is almost as valuable, having guided both men through large portions of their respective careers.

“Crawford [beats Mayweather] because Crawford fighting a guy his size is unique,” Arum told ESNEWS.

“The one thing that Crawford has that most other fighters don’t have is that he is totally ambidextrous.

“So when he shifts from orthodox to southpaw, he is equally effective either way.”

While Canelo and Arum think Crawford would win, there are just as many preeminent voices who would back Mayweather.

And that’s why fantasy matchups will remain the most active threads on boxing forums.