JRE MMA Show #174 with Terence Crawford

TL;DR

Crawford explains why beating Canelo at 168 lbs — coming up from 135 — validated his entire career and why he's now done fighting.

Key Points

• 1.Crawford moved up from 135 to 168 lbs to beat Canelo Álvarez, making it one of boxing's greatest career-defining performances against an all-time great
• 2.He says the fight played out exactly as planned; he studied Canelo live at the Berlanga and Munguia fights and told his team "he can't beat me"
• 3.Crawford is officially retired, stating there's nothing left to chase after winning undisputed titles across multiple weight classes since his first title in March 2014
• 4.He fought Majimov at 154 and noted Majimov actually looked bigger than Canelo, who later fought at 160
• 5.Crawford wanted to knock out Benavidez specifically — unlike the respectful Canelo and Madrimov — because Benavidez talked trash and genuinely got under his skin
• 6.His toughest weight cut was 25 lbs to fight at 147 against Spence, starting the cut months in advance; his worst ring damage came at 135 vs. Gamboa when a clean shot buckled his legs — something he attributes to the extreme cut
• 7.For the Canelo fight, Crawford ate big meals to maintain 172 lbs walk-in weight, entering the ring at ~172 — the most comfortable camp of his career
• 8.Crawford showed up alone to the UFC event where a broadcast truck worker mistakenly identified him as Kendrick Lamar on screen; Crawford is certain it wasn't intentional
• 9.His freshman son just won a state wrestling title and told Crawford he wants to go to the Olympics; Crawford corrected him: "You're not going to want to go — you're going"
• 10.Crawford says he'll help in the gym but lacks the patience to formally coach because he gets frustrated when athletes don't pick things up as fast as he did starting at age 7
• 11.He and Rogan praised Shakur Stevenson vs. Teofimo Lopez as pure boxing art; Crawford visited Shakur's camp before the fight and publicly predicted Shakur would win
• 12.On Ryan Garcia vs. Shakur: Crawford says Shakur is a completely different animal from Barios, and Garcia's carelessness will get him countered repeatedly
• 13.Crawford criticized the boxing business for years of avoided fights and promoter politics, saying all promoters now work together — but only after his prime window had passed
• 14.Rogan and Crawford discussed MMA's broken weight class system: too few divisions (e.g., 205 to 265 lb gap), enabling extreme cuts like Anthony "Rumble" Johnson cutting from 230 lbs to fight at 170
• 15.Crawford argued rehydration clauses in boxing contracts (like Floyd imposed on Canelo) are unfair; he gave Canelo no such clause, saying "you can weigh whatever you want — no excuses"