Veteran boxing analyst Atty. Ed Tolentino is satisfied that three-division champion Terence Crawford is now one of the best pound-for-pound fighter on this planet following his technical knockout over Errol Spence Jr. this previous weekend in Las Vegas.
There have been talks that the no.1 pound-for-pound spot, at the moment held by Oleksandr Usyk, may very well be up for grabs relying on how Naoya Inoue carried out towards Stephen Fulton and on Crawford’s personal efficiency towards Spence. At the moment, Crawford sits at no. 3 and Inoue at no. 2.
“Naoya Inoue is one thing else from 108 kilos to 122 kilos whereas Terence Crawford is a three-division champion and undisputed twice,” Tolentino stated in an interview on Sparring Periods.
“Proper now it’s a shut name for my part, however I’m going to go together with Terence Crawford. Why? As a result of Inoue struggled towards an outdated [Nonito] Donaire although he [easily] defeated him within the rematch by blowing him away in two rounds.”
With each fighters surpassing expectations and successful by stoppages, Tolentino feels that Crawford is barely forward within the race solely as a result of the Japanese four-division champion went the complete twelve rounds towards Donaire again in 2019.
“We noticed flaws [in Inoue] whereas we’ve not seen such from Crawford. Positive, he bought harm, however he by no means got here shut to really shedding a combat. I’ll go for Crawford in what I consider is a really tight race for no.1 pound-for-pound,” Tolentino defined.
Crawford’s win over Spence made him the primary boxer in historical past to change into undisputed champion in two weight lessons within the four-belt period.
Inoue, the WBC and WBO world tremendous bantamweight titleholder, could have an opportunity to perform the identical feat when he fights WBA and IBF world tremendous bantamweight champion Marlon Tapales later this yr.
—JMB, GMA Built-in Information