In the wake of Terence Crawford’s stoppage of Shawn Porter, members of the Boxing Social team ponder who should be regarded as the world’s premier welterweight…
On Saturday night, WBO welterweight champion Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford (38-0, 29 KOs) became the first man to stop Shawn Porter in the professional ranks. With unified WBC and IBF champion Errol Spence Jr currently sidelined with injury, some argue that Crawford is now ‘the man’ at welter, while others argue that Spence (27-0, 21 KOs) is still worthy of the number ranking in one of boxing’s most talent rich divisions.
So, where do members of the Boxing Social team stand on the big talking point at 147lbs?
Crawford should be rated number one at welterweight now. Spence has only fought once since 2019 and Crawford beat mutual opponent Porter more convincingly than the Texan did. Having said that, Crawford can’t be considered the true champion at 147lbs until he beats Spence. With ‘Bud’ announcing he won’t be renewing his deal with Top Rank here’s hoping he takes the Canelo style approach of not tying himself to any promoter or network long term in order to make as many legacy fights as possible. He’s 34 and probably only going to slowly decline from here on, so the sooner he lands the biggest fights possible the better. As for Spence, let’s hope we see him back in the ring ASAP so we can assess how his troubles of the last couple of years may or may not have affected him. – Luke G. Williams
The best welterweight in the world is a pick between Crawford and Spence. Vergil Ortiz Jr and Jaron Ennis may have a say in the future while Yordenis Ugas isn’t on the same level as the top two. Spence holds more of the best wins – thanks to beating Danny Garcia and Porter – while Crawford’s best win came on Saturday against Porter. But, for me, the better fighter is Crawford. He has more strings to his bow, possesses a ruthless streak and stopped Porter while not at full tilt. Spence had a question mark after his car accident which he answered with his routine win over Mikey Garcia who had no place fighting at 147lbs. Now the unified champion has another question to answer following the surgery to his eye. For me Spence is very good but Crawford is great. ‘Bud’ (E)lite. – Shaun Brown
Spence has the best record at 147lbs. ‘The Truth’ has faced, and beaten, almost every top fighter at welterweight – with the exception of Crawford. ‘Bud’ has faced only one truly world-class fighter at the weight, in Porter, and had his struggles early in the bout, before adapting and bringing proceedings to a close. On achievements at welterweight, you’d have to say Spence is the No.1. However, on the eye test, Crawford looks a level above. Indeed, Crawford is arguably the most complete active fighter in the world. Statistics be damned, I’d pick Crawford over Spence. It would be interesting to see if opinions would have been different had Spence faced Pacquiao in August. When Manny lost to Ugas, the belief was that Father Time had defeated the Filipino, rather than his opponent. I suspect Spence would have been given more credit. – John Angus MacDonald