Oleksandr Usyk thinks a prime Terence Crawford would have beaten Floyd Mayweather, Sugar Ray Leonard and Sugar Ray Robinson.
Usyk told Daily Mail Sport he would back Crawford against all three, and against Pernell Whitaker.
He is talking about a fighter who retired last December with a 42-0 record, three months after taking the undisputed super-middleweight championship from Canelo Alvarez. Crawford went undisputed in three weight classes, the only man to do it in the four-belt era, and stopped Errol Spence Jr. in nine rounds in 2023.
The names he is being measured against are the standard by which the sport judges everyone. Robinson won world titles at welterweight and middleweight across a career of close to 200 fights, beating ten future Hall of Famers including Jake LaMotta and Randolph Turpin. Leonard beat all three of his fellow Four Kings, Roberto Duran, Thomas Hearns and Marvin Hagler. Mayweather finished 50-0 as a five-division champion.
Usyk was regarded as Crawford’s pound-for-pound rival before the retirement. He has one fight left himself, having vacated his heavyweight titles in June.
