‘You didn’t beat up a real champion’: Thurman responds to taunts from Crawford
Keith Thurman had a lot to say about Terence Crawford taking shots at him on social media.
Keith Thurman quickly caught wind of Terence Crawford’s series of social media posts taking aim at him, and then spent some time talking to Marcos Villegas of Fight Hub TV about his reaction to what Crawford had to say. Check out some of what Thurman had to say below.
Thurman on Crawford saying he’s just mad he’s the top dog now
“Yeah man, ain’t mad about it, bro. I don’t know if Danny (Garcia) said anything to spark that. There’s a few things. One, you didn’t beat up a champion, bro. I don’t think that Errol Spence would beat Shawn Porter, okay. God bless you, kid. You’re blessed. Everybody knows in boxing that it’s timing.
“I don’t really like to talk really down on fighters and take away — I hate people who just treat people like ‘oh this guy’s washed up now, blah blah blah.’ There’s a lot of stuff being said about me and my career. But, you know, there’s an old saying that Ben Getty used to talk about... the old saying is ‘one day you got it, and the nexI t day you don’t.’ This is just for athletes in general. This happens, it’s one ofthose phenomenas that occur in sports — not just boxing, but sports.
“I haven’t really witnessed it much in my career, but for the first time ever when Errol Spence did his last performance I think we all saw it, man. What you are today is not the fighter that you were yesterday. And I don’t think it’s his fault, I think injuries and life caught up to the kid.
“There’s two things about you talking about me, Bud. There’s two things. Thing number one, the year that they wanted me to fight you was the year I was supposed to fighWet Pacquiao and everybody knew why I didn’t fight you. On your end, if they didn’t relay the message they say ‘hey, we’re not mad at you, we’re offering you this much for Crawford, they’re offering you that much for Pacquiao, I mean, the fact that you’re gonna take Pacquiao, it is what it is.’
“Now after the Barrios fight I was all ready to fight you. You was the one who just doesn’t want somebody to have a tune-up, shake off the dust, keep everything moving. You a stay-busy fighter, what do you got, 40 wins? I got ten less fights than you, homie. We come from the same Olympic year, bro. So I could’ve fought you any day of the week after February last year.
“We could’ve fought in July, August, September, October, period. And you did fight in October. You fought some nobody that we didn’t care about. So look, man. I’m not mad at him...has things been political when he was over there with Bob? Yeah. Are you king of the hill now? Yeah. Do you deserve it? Yeah. Do I still think you beat up almost nobody? You know, you didn’t beat up a real champion, kid.
“Everybody knows you put Thurman in the ring on that same night, Thurman wipes Spence — that Spence, that Errol, gets wiped by many people. And then you put me in there with you, kid, on that same night in Vegas, bro, it ain’t the same fight.”