
In the wake of Terence Crawford's unanimous decision victory against Canelo Alvarez on September 13 (which gave Crawford the undisputed super middleweight champion and the first male boxer to win three undisputed championships in his career), there has been a lot of debate about whether Crawford has surpassed Floyd Mayweather as the greatest boxer of this century.
Canelo made his opinion on which is better extremely clear during his post-fight press conference after losing to Crawford when he said, "I think Crawford is way better than Floyd Mayweather."
Canelo just said Terence Crawford is “way better” than Floyd Mayweather after fighting both pic.twitter.com/tHoDH4LGIL
— Happy Punch (@HappyPunch) September 14, 2025
Sports media icon Stephen A. Smith also conveyed his own stance on this subject in the wake of Crawford's win by saying, "I'm not gonna sit up here and say that," when asked whether Crawford is better than Floyd Mayweather after Canelo vs. Crawford ended.
"I think that Floyd Mayweather was such a magician defensively. You have to look at Floyd 'Money' Mayweather in this regard: Once he moved up to welterweight, his hands were always damaged. So he kinda knew he wasn't gonna be able to knock you out, for the most part. And still, he walked into the ring and put on masterful performances because he was so superior, skill-wise and defensively," Smith added.
Boxing icon Roy Jones Jr. has been beefing with Mayweather over the past few months, ever since Mayweather posted a video to his social media channels earlier this year of him watching a video of every time Jones Jr. was knocked out.
And perhaps this beef played a part in Jones Jr.'s stance on the Mayweather vs. Crawford debate during his October 25 interview with Fight Hub TV.
"To me, he is, because he challenges himself, " Jones Jr. said when asked whether Crawford is better than Mayweather at this point. "Don't get me wrong; Floyd ain't no bad fighter. Floyd is a hell of a sharp fighter. But I ain't gonna say [Crawford is] a better fighter. I'm just saying I can appreciate him more because he challenges himself. Floyd never challenges himself.
"So if you're [asking] me who I want to see between Floyd and Terence, I want to see Terence, cause Terence gonna challenge himself. Floyd may be a better fighter. Floyd is slick, and he can really fight. I don't underestimate Floyd's boxing ability. Floyd has great boxing ability. Floyd is one of the best ever. But Floyd just never challenges himself."
It will be interesting to see what the reaction to this sentiment is.
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