“So Crawford, 36-0 (27), did to Kavaliauskas what he was supposed to do, and he’ll get very little credit for it from his critics. Whether their valuation is fair will depend in part on what comes of Kavaliauskas. But how Crawford won should matter regardless. In that protracted execution, Crawford proved himself world-class; there is simply too much variety, intelligence, and talent in Crawford’s game for him to be a fraud. There is a fire there, too, the kind Floyd Mayweather Jr. showed in dominating Shane Mosley within seconds of Mosley wobbling him, but also the kind of fire that regards decisions as defeats. That does not make Crawford perfect, as Kavaliauskas showed. But there’s a reason Freddie Roach openly and unabashedly kept Manny Pacquiao away from Crawford. There’s a reason why Top Rank is going to have to overpay to get Crawford the opponents he needs, the Premier Boxing Chemicals required to accelerate the curing of his legacy.”
Read: The Unexpected Intentional: Terence Crawford Wrecks Egidijus Kavaliauskas on Hannibal Boxing.
In Between Rounds 