Shortly after Terence Crawford’s stellar performance in dethroning Canelo Alvarez to become the undisputed super middleweight champion, a new challenger has emerged. But not one Crawford is currently interested in fighting.
Two-weight unbeaten UFC champion Ilia Topuria, 28, has long been interested in putting his heavy hands to work in boxing and is now after a fight with the three-division undisputed boxing champion. Topuria took to social media last week and suggested he would knock out Crawford if the two met inside a boxing ring. Crawford shot back, writing him off as delusional and “drunk.”
Then, on the night of the fight, Topuria took exception to Crawford entering the ring to “CancioΜn del Mariachi” from the film Desperado, which Topuria also uses when he walks to the Octagon. Crawford, 37, shrugged off the comparison during the post-fight news conference but the UFC lightweight champion took exception and fired back on social media.
“First he calls drunk, then he walks out to MY song,” Topuria said in a post on X. “Crawford, whenever you want, I’ll teach you how to dance that mariachi in the ring. And Canelo, I’ll save you a round after him.”
Crawford not only shrugged off Topuria’s latest advances but called him a “clout chaser” who is “not on the level” of Conor McGregor.
“I definitely think he’s trying to clout chase,” Crawford said during an appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show on Monday. “I definitely think he would get in the ring with me for the fight check. That’s what we all do it for, but at the same time, I don’t know what the f— he’s doing. I don’t know what he’s thinking. I would — there ain’t even nothing to talk about.”
Crawford went on to say that he had never seen Topuria fight and questioned why the UFC champion didn’t speak up about his desire to fight him when they crossed paths at the UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas a couple of months back.
“When he saw me at the UFC, he came up to shake my hand and say what’s up to me. I ain’t even know who he was,” Crawford said. “But then I see him online talking about how he’ll knock me out in the first round and this and that. And now this. Well, if you wanted to fight me, you had the opportunity to tell me like, ‘Hey, man, I want to fight you. What’s up?’ That’s fake.”
While boxing and MMA crossover fights have brought financial upside for the participants, Crawford doesn’t see any value in a fight with “El Matador” and shot down any comparison to this being remotely close to the blockbuster 2017 showdown between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and McGregor.
“What money would I get out of fighting him? Tell me how much I’m going to get out of fighting him?” Crawford asked. “He’s nowhere near on the level of Conor McGregor. Let’s be real. Stop it. Don’t even compare him to Conor. … Like I said, I don’t know this guy. I’ve never seen this guy fight, and I watch a lot of MMA.
“Maybe I’m slipping. Maybe he’s a good fighter. I don’t know. But I’ve honestly never seen this guy fight. And I’ve seen Conor McGregor fight a lot of times. … Don’t ever try to say they’re on the same level.”
