Nebraska’s native son Terence Crawford fights for legacy

Terence Crawford attempts to stay unbeaten when he moves up to welterweight to challenge Jeff Horn for his WBO title. Trainer Brian McIntyre talks with FanSided.

Nebraska is known as the Cornhusker State. The University of Nebraska adopted this moniker and the prestigious tradition of its football program has been the main source of pride for Nebraska residents. Its football program has waned, but boxing has quietly emerged as Nebraska’s dominant sport. Terence “Bud” Crawford has led this pugilistic renaissance, and a boxing wave has punched its way to the heartland of Midwest.

In 10 years as a professional, Crawford (32-0, 23 KOs) has won titles as a lightweight and super lightweight. He cleaned out the latter division and unified it when he knocked out Julius Indongo in the third round.

Instead of defending his four titles, he’s moving up to the welterweight division to replicate his super lightweight success. Jeff Horn (18-0-1, 12 KOs) puts his WBO welterweight title on the line when he meets Crawford on Saturday, June 9. Horn represents the start of welterweight supremacy for Crawford.

Crawford ascended the boxing ranks with hard work and intelligence. He’s a tremendous athlete with power in both hands, but his technique and defensive skills make him special. Crawford’s trainer, Brian McIntyre, spoke to FanSided and revealed what sets Crawford apart from other great boxers.

“Every fight, he grows,” McIntyre said. “Every fight, he learns a little bit something different about himself.”

McIntyre added, “When he faces a different style, his coaches face a different style. For him to listen to his coaches and go in there and dominate in that fashion, that shows the level of respect that the team and fighter have for each other. That just makes me feel good.”

Crawford has figured out every opponent placed in front of him. In 2014, he crushed previously unbeaten two-time Olympic medalist Yuriorkis Gamboa. He ended Viktor Postol’s undefeated reign in 2016 by easily outboxing him. Indongo was his last victim, and he looks to add Horn to his list of foes conquered.

Horn has never lost, but the Australian is a substantial betting underdog. According to the Sports Book Review, he sits at +1295 odds. Most assume Crawford will prevail over Horn, but he’s not taking Horn lightly.

Many see Horn as a longshot based on his biggest win against Manny Pacquiao. In 2017, Horn beat Pacquiao by unanimous decision to win the WBO welterweight title. Despite the judges’ scorecards, most believe Pacquiao deserved the victory. According to CompuBox (via BoxingScene.com), Pacquiao out-landed Horn by 90 punches. He also connected at a higher percentage than Horn.

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Regardless of what the numbers say, McIntyre believes that Horn’s win over Pacquiao was legitimate.

“He won it,” McIntyre said to FanSided. “He pulled it out. He was a little bit more active than Manny was. He was busier. Just mauling him.” 

Crawford has undergone an intense training camp. McIntyre acknowledged that to get used to a bigger weight class, Crawford sparred with significantly bigger boxers. One of his sparring partners was light heavyweight Steven Nelson, who’s a stablemate of Crawford’s.

While pundits and fans might think Horn is easy work for Crawford, he isn’t taking any chances.

McIntyre has meticulously scouted Horn by reviewing his fight film.

“I looked at his last four fights,” McIntyre said. “I definitely looked at the fight where Randall Bailey dropped him. I looked at that Corcoran fight. That fight was very interesting to me because Corcoran was giving him a run for his money. They stopped it on cuts. Jeff Horn’s cut was worse than Corcoran’s.”

McIntyre tried to bring Gary Corcoran, Horn’s previous opponent, into camp for Crawford to spar. Corcoran fought valiantly against Horn for 11 rounds but was stopped due to cuts around his eyes. He could have added to Crawford’s depth of knowledge of Horn, but his trainer was unable to enter the country.

“He [Corcoran] was supposed to come here,” McIntyre said. “His coach had visa issues, so they stopped him at the border. He was supposed to come in the last three weeks of camp. When he got on a plane to come here, he called me and said his coach has visa issues.”

The loss of Corcoran’s knowledge isn’t the only adversity Crawford has endured during camp. In March, he injured his right hand, and the fight with Horn was postponed.

“He had a contusion on his hand,” McIntyre said. “It came from just sparring. He was sparring a guy with a full-face headgear and he just hit him on top of the head with a little bit too much power.”

Crawford’s contusion was on the back of the hand, and he’s fully healed.

Horn faces an uphill battle against Crawford. His record is impressive, but he lacks Crawford’s experience. Crawford has boxed 51 more professional rounds than Horn throughout their careers. When asked about Horn’s biggest weakness McIntyre responded, “A lack of experience. He’s got 18 fights and he’s fighting a guy with 32 fights.”

Another area of concern for Horn is his power — or a lack of it. He has 12 knockouts in his 18-fight career. That’s a 63 percent rating, which is very respectable, but he hasn’t stopped an A-level boxer. During his research of Horn, McIntyre heard rumors about the quality of Horn’s power.

“Gary [Corcoran] and Randall Bailey personally told me that he [Horn] don’t have no power,” McIntyre said. He respectfully added,  “We always respect the other fighter because he steps in the ring. As far as power goes, we won’t know until we get in there.”

The only question mark shadowing Crawford is how will his power and abilities transfer to the welterweight division? It’s possible his power won’t have the same impact at a heavier weight, but his team isn’t concerned. On the contrary, they think he will benefit from his new division.

“Stepping up in weight is a good thing for Terence because he don’t have to struggle to make weight,” McIntyre explained. “He’s actually stronger at 147 than he is at 140.”

A Crawford victory over Horn is expected, but Crawford and his team have a higher standard of success. They don’t want to win — they want to punish.

When asked what Crawford has to do in order for his performance to be deemed a success, McIntyre decisively responded, “Stopping him [Horn]. Stop him bad. Make him quit. Make him say that ‘I don’t want to fight no more.’ Make his ass don’t want to get off that stool. Make the ref step in and say, ‘He took enough beating, so that’s it.'”

If Crawford wins, he will try to become the undisputed welterweight champion. Other boxers in history have traversed multiple divisions, but McIntyre believes that welterweight will be Crawford’s home for the remainder of his career.

“The goal is to clean out the 147-pound division — to be the pound-for-pound fighter in the world and ride his career out after that.” McIntyre continued, “We don’t have to move up any further, but if an opportunity comes I’m sure we would consider it.”

A win over Horn would add to Crawford’s historic legacy. As he fights for his place among boxing’s best in history, his accomplishments are inspiring those around him. Omaha, Nebraska is becoming a hotbed of up and coming boxers, and his training home, B & B Boxing Academy, is at the center.

Successful pros like Steven Nelson (10-0, 8 KOs) and Jamel Herring (17-2, 10 KOs) train alongside Crawford under the tutelage of McIntyre and co-trainer Esau Dieguez. McIntyre and Dieguez also have numerous amateur boxers who are finding success at the national and international level.

While talking about the stream of talented boxers inspired by Crawford to train under McIntyre and Dieguez, McIntyre spoke of a 15-year-old named Alan Panduro Angulo. Yes, Alan is related to boxing veteran Alfredo Angulo (24-7, 20 KOs). He’s his nephew.

“His mom is Alfredo’s sister,” McIntyre explained. “They moved here. I got him when he was eight. He’s 15 now, and he’s won his last few international tournaments. He’s awesome.”

McIntyre continued, “He’s taking off. He’s good in school. He plays basketball and he listens.”

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Crawford’s accomplishments in the ring are adding to his lore as boxing’s best. He’s impacting those around him. His influence is galvanizing fight fans and those who dream of reaching his level of success. Nebraska is becoming the Terence Crawford state, and everyone there should be proud of their native son.