Terence Crawford met with tougher resistance from Egidijus Kavaliauskas than anyone expected Saturday in New York City. And, in the end, that was fortunate for him.
Kavaliauskas’ success – including what appeared to be a knockdown in the third round that the referee missed – early in their welterweight title fight made Crawford’s knockout 44 seconds into the ninth round all the more spectacular.
And, in the end, Boxing Junkie’s No. 2 fighter certainly didn’t hurt his pound-for-pound status. In fact, he might’ve enhanced it.
“Crawford helped himself,” said Boxing Junkie staffer Norm Frauenheim. “He dealt with adversity not often seen in his unbeaten career. He got rocked in the third round, literally holding on in what should have been ruled a knockdown. There is no bigger test of a fighter than exactly that moment.
“He thought and fought through the adversity, eventually taking control and finishing the fight with a beautiful sequence of three punches, each delivered with lethal precision.”
Said Sean Nam, another staff writer: “Crawford may be a tad slower in his reflexes, as evidenced by the way Kavaliauskas buckled him ever so briefly in that third round, but the image that persists is how Crawford dismantled his game opponent down the stretch, leaving no doubt as to who was in charge. For that, I think Crawford should retain his spot.”
The Boxing Junkie staff agreed that Crawford’s rousing victory allows him to hold his No. 2 position … but that’s it. We didn’t feel a victory over Kavaliauskas was enough to threaten No. 1 Vasiliy Lomachenko.
Kavaliauskas, a two-time Olympian from Lithuania, obviously is a good fighter but he doesn’t have the professional track record to vault Crawford to the top.
A lot could change in 2020 if either or both of two fights take place. Lomachenko seems to be on track to face new lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez early next year. And Crawford and Shawn Porter have expressed interest in fighting one another.
The results of those fights could give the top of the Boxing Junkie pound-for-pound list a different look.
Check out our Top 15 list below. And let us know what you think.
BOXING JUNKIE
POUND-FOR-POUND
- Vasiliy Lomachenko
- Terence Crawford
- Canelo Alvarez
- Naoya Inoue
- Oleksandr Usyk
- Gennadiy Golovkin
- Errol Spence
- Juan Francisco Estrada
- Mikey Garcia
- Artur Beterbiev
- Josh Taylor
- Manny Pacquiao
- Srisaket Sor Rungvisai
- Leo Santa Cruz
- Kosei Tanaka
Honorable mention (alphabetical order): Miguel Berchelt, Mairis Briedis, Tyson Fury, Shawn Porter, Julian Williams