Mikey Williams/Top Rank Inc via Getty Images
Crawford (37-0, 28 KO) has taken some increasingly harsh criticism over the last year or two, because while he’s a three-division champ and undoubtedly a tremendous fighter, one of the best in the world, the feeling is that his opposition has been lacking, and he’s still in desperate need of a truly marquee win.
In particular focus is his résumé as a welterweight, where he’s beaten Jeff Horn, Jose Benavidez Jr, Amir Khan, Egidijus “Mean Machine” Kavaliauskas, and Kell Brook. Horn was seen as a weak titlist who never should have won the title in the first place, Benavidez was a stalled prospect who hasn’t fought since losing to Crawford in 2018 and doesn’t seem likely to fight again at this point, and both Khan and Brook were well past their best days. That leaves Kavaliauskas, a middling contender, as arguably the best win at 147 for Crawford.