Terence Crawford Continues To Fight Shadows and Insecurities

What made Terence Crawford a great fighter was the huge chip on his shoulder that compelled him to learn his craft, to mercilessly apply it in the ring, and then to climb to the heights of his profession.

But what happens now that Crawford is at the top, achieving everything he’s set out to achieve, and he still sports that chip on his shoulder?

Well, as things are turning out, he just sort of comes off as an annoying sour puss wasting a whole lot of time that, at 37, he has less and less of.

In a recent interview with Bernie Tha Boxer on YouTube, the four-division world champ went on yet another run of pound-for-pound self-pity as he lamented a boxing world that, according to him, is denying him the respect he merits and the opportunities he deserves.

Ironically enough, he says all this while several big-fight opportunities lay at his feet, entirely ignored. In the recent past, Crawford has entirely walked around the challenge of welterweight rising star Jaron “Boots” Ennis, the all-action Vergil Ortiz Jr., and now he seems fairly disinterested in facing WBO/WBC junior middleweight champ Sebastian Fundora despite his team asking for a 10-day extension on negotiations for the WBO-mandated bout.

“The standards for me are always high because everybody always doubts me,” Crawford insisted. “People always say that I’m not as good as I am portrayed to be. My resume is [poor].

“Everyone always says these things to try and devalue me when they can’t look at what I’ve accomplished in the sport of boxing for the things that I’ve done. You got to take your hat off and give me my props.”

One has to wonder what “props” Crawford is looking for as he’s already universally regarded as one of the top pound-for-pound boxers in the world and one of the present tense greats. He’s also made a good deal of money on several favorable boxing deals.

If “props” translate to drawing power in Crawford’s mind, then you can kinda, sorta understand his frustration. The Omaha, Nebraska native, despite all his world titles and the recognition he gets among the hardcore boxing base, has never been able to attain true star attraction status outside of his home town.

The frustration of having fewer people than you’d like paying for the privilege of seeing your greatness has to be intense for a competitor like Crawford. This angst is probably the driving force behind his apparent obsession in sharing a stage with Mexican superstar Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, to the reported exclusion of all other opposition.

The frustration is also the reason behind Crawford’s constant need to affirm a greatness that has already been affirmed.

“When you’re so much better than the competition in front of you, and the competition is world champions, Olympic gold medalists, multiple weight world champion and you’re just that much better than the competition,” Crawford crowed. “They look at you like you’re not fighting anybody. The same way they were saying about Roy Jones Jr. The same way they were saying about Floyd Mayweather. ‘He’s fighting guys out of their prime and fighting these guys when they’re washed.’

“When you’re that much better than the competition, nobody wants to give you your just due.”

Well, there’s obviously a debate raging inside Crawford’s head and he’s still flailing wildly, trying to knock the chip off his shoulder.

But at some point, he needs to get out of his own head and move forward. There’s not a whole lot of time left for him to shine.

For the vast majority of his career, Crawford has chased after the accomplishments needed to win the boxing world’s respect. And now that he’s won that war, he can’t seem to stop himself from looking back and re-fighting all the battles he’s already won.