Who Was Crawford’s Toughest Opponent?

Two-weight world champion Regis Prograis shed light on the only time Terence Crawford felt truly in danger during his career.

Crawford, who retired in December 2025 after his undisputed super middleweight title win over Canelo Alvarez, shared the revelation with Prograis. According to Prograis, Crawford pointed back to June 28, 2014—the night of his first WBO lightweight title defense against Yuriorkis Gamboa.

While Crawford stopped Gamboa in the ninth, he admitted to being “buzzing” early in that final round. Crawford explained to Prograis that the vulnerability was likely due to the struggle of making the 135-lb lightweight limit early in his career. Rather than folding, Crawford famously dropped Gamboa twice more in that same round to force the referee to wave off the contest.

“Terence Crawford went up two divisions and he still took shots from Canelo. He said ‘the only time I’ve been hurt was by [Yuriorkis] Gamboa and that was when I was at 135, I was too small. I’ve been in the gym, sparring these big guys and the punches don’t do nothing.’ So, really the extra weight is a benefit,” Prograis said

Crawford Reacts

Crawford backed up those word, as he recalled Gamboa being the hardest opponent of his career. While Gamboa would never be the same fighter after the Crawford loss, Bud faced him when he was being touted as the next Floyd Mayweather Jr.

“I would say Gamboa [was my toughest opponent], because of the experience at the time. You have got to understand, I came from fighting six-round fights to a ten-round fight on HBO when I got the Breidis Prescott fight. So then I fight him, another guy for the Interim NABO, and then I fight for a title eliminator, [Andrey] Klimov.

“Then I fight Ricky Burns, and come back and fight Gamboa when I become champion. “Gamboa was labelled as the next Floyd Mayweather. He was on the pound-for-pound list. Everybody had Gamboa at a high rating. Olympic Gold Medal. He had the experience over me, and I learned a lot in that fight. That’s what made it hard because it was something I’d never experienced in a fighter before,” Gamboa stated