Terence Crawford v Josh Taylor: Is It Still Interesting? Will We See It?

What’s the Temperature on Terence Crawford v Josh Taylor?

Unbeaten WBO 147-pound champion Terence “Bud” Crawford (38-0, 29KOs) is an avid fan of the sport he’s been so dominating in. With that, he’s always watching fights, especially those involving potential opponents. One guy who has been linked as a possible opponent is unbeaten, undisputed 140-pound champion Josh “The Tartan Tornado” Taylor (19-0, 13KOs).

Prior to Taylor v Catterall, there had been a lot of talk about The Tartan Tornado moving up to welterweight and challenging Crawford. While the current undisputed 140-pound champion is viewed as a great fighter, the chances of him being able to defeat the ultra-talented Crawford weren’t viewed as a high probability. However, after a terrible performance in the first defense of his undisputed titles against Jack “El Gato” Catterall (26-1, 13KOs), the excitement level of a potential fight has significantly cooled down.

Crawford apparently witnessed the controversial split decision Taylor benefited from. After the fight, he hopped on his social media and seemingly took a subliminal shot at Taylor.

CAN’T TOUCH THIS

Crawford is saying that he would never have underperformed against comparative competition how Taylor did. As a top-five pound for pound fighter in the sport, he is absolutely correct to dismiss such comparisons. Indeed, Taylor is a great fighter. Still, even had he won impressively against Catterall, he would’ve still been viewed poorly as a possible opponent for Crawford. Stylistically, that’s a bad matchup for Taylor. He gets hit way too much and would have to contend with the switch-hitting Crawford, who possesses good speed, power, reflexes and great ring IQ. Furthermore, Crawford is on record saying that he told Taylor himself that he would easily defeat him in a fight. It’s safe to say that the Catterall performance did little to change that narrative.

With the WBO making Taylor their super champion, he has the right to invoke his mandatory status whenever he officially makes the move to welterweight. This would put the two champions on a collision course, whether or not there is interest from fans or pundits. Another thing to point out is that Crawford is currently in litigation with Top Rank. Knowing Bob Arum, he won’t push to make that fight happen unless it’s mandated and pushed by Taylor. Regardless of what we want, Taylor v Crawford is a fight we may still get.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

By: Jerrell Fletcher

Featured Article: Jack Catterall On Josh Taylor Decision: “Boxing…Shame On You!”