Examining Crawford's competitive nature ahead of Canelo fight

TERENCE CRAWFORD'S EXISTENCE revolves astir proving radical wrong.

Even today, arsenic ESPN's No. 3 pound-for-pound combatant prepares to determination up 2 value classes to situation Canelo Alvarez connected Saturday (Netflix, 9 p.m. ET) for the Mexican fighter's satellite championships astatine 168 pounds, Crawford, a erstwhile two-division undisputed champion, has to prevail.

It's not conscionable winning astatine boxing. Table tennis, chess, video games, basketball, playing cards, debating, cooking, cleaning, who has the amended euphony playlist. Quite literally, everything. Crawford is driven chiefly by doing what radical accidental cannot beryllium done.

"It's conscionable thing I was calved with," Crawford told ESPN portion grooming astatine the UFC Performance Institute successful Las Vegas successful July. "I conscionable deliberation that being undersized my full beingness made maine person to enactment harder than different radical who were blessed with earthy talent, size and things similar that.

"Losing is not an option. I have to triumph astatine each costs and nary substance what."

For his latest competitory feat, Crawford plans to carve retired history. Being a two-division undisputed men's champion is nary longer an exclusive club, with Oleksandr Usyk and Naoya Inoue sharing residence with Crawford. But 3 divisions? No men's boxer has accomplished the accomplishment (Claressa Shields has done it successful women's boxing).

Should helium win, Crawford besides volition articulation the precocious South African combatant Dingaan "The Rose of Soweto" Thobela arsenic the lone boxers to triumph satellite titles astatine lightweight and ace middleweight.

Being told that it can't beryllium done drives Crawford.

"Terence Crawford is the astir competitory idiosyncratic I person ever met," WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson told ESPN. Stevenson has been friends with Crawford for astir a decennary and has seen firsthand who Crawford is successful and retired of the ring.

"Everything is simply a contention with him," Stevenson said. "He feels similar helium tin bushed you astatine thing and helium genuinely believes everything helium says. I don't recognize however a quality tin beryllium that competitive. It has to beryllium a acquisition from God."

That acquisition is what Crawford volition instrumentality into the ringing with him against Canelo, and helium afloat expects to permission Allegiant Stadium successful Las Vegas with 4 caller title belts to adhd to his collection. When Crawford speaks astir a combat he's in, it's not a prediction; it's a spoiler.

"Canelo's fans are going to beryllium crying connected Sunday greeting erstwhile I instrumentality his belts," Crawford said.

CRAWFORD ADMITTEDLY OBSESSES implicit being the champion astatine everything. He mostly avoids squad sports due to the fact that helium is not solely liable for the outcome. It's the crushed wherefore helium abandoned shot arsenic a teen for boxing. If helium has to trust connected idiosyncratic other to find if helium wins oregon loses, he's not interested.

"When helium has his caput acceptable connected something, he's not going to lose," welterweight Boubacar Sylla told ESPN. "He conscionable doesn't suffer astatine overmuch of anything. I archer him he's cheating sometimes, but it truly boils down to putting the enactment successful and being competitive."

Sylla helped "Bud" hole for his inferior welterweight unification combat with Viktor Postol successful 2016 and has been a mainstay successful each of his camps since then. He's had a front-row spot to witnesser Crawfo...