Terence Crawford put an exclamation point at the end of his heated rivalry with Jose Benavidez Jr. by stopping Benavidez with 18 seconds remaining in their fight Saturday night. It was yet another impressive showing for a fighter who hovers in the top three of the fictional pound-for-pound rankings.
SN LIVE BLOG: Crawford ends blood feud with last-second TKO of Benavidez
Crawford's feud with Benavidez dated to February when the two engaged in a war of words at the weigh-in for Benavidez’s fight against Matthew Strode. Although they both boasted a goose egg in the loss column, Crawford was the far more seasoned fighter despite Benavidez’s excellent amateur credentials. Nevertheless, the fight was made.
Benavidez made a solid accounting of himself against Crawford before succumbing to a brutal right uppercut that sent him crashing to the canvas with seconds remaining in Round 12. With Benavidez unable to intelligently defend himself, Crawford throttled him until the referee halted the fight as the crowd inside CHI Health Center in Crawford’s hometown, Omaha, Neb., roared.
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In defending his WBO welterweight title, Crawford improved to 34-0 with 25 knockouts. Here's what we learned about Crawford, Benavidez and their respective futures during Saturday’s clash.
Crawford is a small welterweight
There are real questions surrounding Crawford’s size in the division. In his second fight at 147 pounds, he was up against an opponent who had competed at 154 pounds. The size difference was obvious as Benavidez held a 6-inch height advantage. Crawford used his high boxing IQ and speed to offset that advantage.
Until the 12th round, it didn't appear that Crawford's shots had had much of an effect on Benavidez. Crawford also needed time to figure out how to get past Benavidez's 3-inch reach advantage, but he eventually did. By the time he crushed Benavidez with the right uppercut, he had the fight well in hand and his opponent was in full desperation mode, which led to the brutal TKO victory.
Crawford has been vocal about wanting to fight the best the division has to offer, which would mean showdowns with Shawn Porter and, of course, Errol Spence Jr. There’s a lot of curiosity about how well Crawford would deal with Porter's physicality and Spence's size.
Benavidez isn’t as skilled as Spence, and there are legitimate concerns about how a Crawford-Spence fight would play out at 147 pounds. Porter may not be as technically sound as Spence, but his aggression and size could be a problem for the smaller Crawford.
While all this is great to fantasize about, one thing remains true . . .
. . . Crawford won’t be fighting elite 147-pounders anytime soon
Crawford's promoter, Bob Arum, has said that he wouldn’t mind working with Al Haymon to get fights for Crawford against the best welterweights in the world, but the harsh reality is that Haymon doesn't need Crawford as much as Crawford needs Haymon's fighters. As long as the best welterweights not named Terence Crawford reside under the Haymon/PBC umbrella, there's no need for them to face the fighter affectionately known as Bud.
If you’re Haymon, why would you risk one of your fighters — and split the money pie with another promoter — in a fight vs. Crawford rather than keep 100 percent of the money in-house? Haymon has Spence, Porter, Keith Thurman, Adrian Broner, Danny Garcia and, reportedly, Manny Pacquiao. It would be much smarter for Haymon to have those fighters face each other in varying combinations and then have the winner eventually fight Crawford.
Going that route means it could take up to a year to determine a clear-cut challenger to Crawford, but the reward is worth the risk. It's better from a business perspective to make Arum and Crawford sweat. The fans may not like it, but this is the likely course of action.
Also, a fight between Crawford and Spence (or whoever emerges from PBC) would need to be a pay-per-view in order to satisfy both sides financially, and frankly, there isn't mainstream interest in such a fight. We'll eventually get it if Crawford keeps winning, but not until 2020 at the earliest.
Crawford-Garcia, anyone?
As much as we’ve discussed Crawford-Spence over the past year, wouldn’t a fight between Crawford and Mikey Garcia be just as intriguing? There would be no real size advantage because both have climbed from smaller weight classes. Both are undefeated and have excellent ring IQs. Garcia is advised by Haymon but isn't part of the PBC roster.
Garcia has been looking for a major challenge and has had his sights set on Spence, but Spence could be heading toward a clash with Shawn Porter, which would leave Garcia on the sideline. With a Crawford-vs.-Vasiliy Lomachenko showdown being highly unlikely and a fight with Spence needing more time to simmer, Crawford vs. Garcia is a bout that fight fans could really get behind.
This isn’t the last of Benavidez
Prior to facing Crawford, Benavidez had just returned from an 18-month layoff after being shot in the leg in 2016. He'd only had two fights against underwhelming competition before stepping up to take on the champ. It was simply a case of too much, too soon for the 26-year-old. It would have been wiser for Benavidez to take another fight or two before squaring off with arguably the best fighter in the world, but Benavidez couldn't pass up this opportunity.
Benavidez looked good in spots and didn't make anything easy for his opponent. He wasn't overwhelmed by the moment; he was simply outclassed by a better fighter.
Given his credentials (youngest Golden Gloves champion at 16, sparred with Manny Pacquiao, Timothy Bradley and Amir Khan before his 18th birthday), Benavidez just needs to take a step back, collect himself and climb back toward the top. He could become a force in the welterweight division if he keeps his head on straight and doesn't allow his ego to be crushed by Saturday's setback.
This could be his Floyd Mayweather vs. Canelo Alvarez moment. Canelo was too young and inexperienced for Mayweather, but used the encounter to become a pound-for-pound attraction. We'll have to wait and see how Benavidez handles his first loss.
