It was a Tempestuous September for Terence Crawford, the TSS Fighter of the Month

Some selections are just too easy. Terence “Bud” Crawford was a virtual lock to be named the TSS Fighter of the Month after he upset Canelo Alvarez in Las Vegas on Sept. 13. Even if September was a busy month for boxing – and it wasn’t – how could anyone surpass Crawford who became the first male boxer in the four-belt era to become an undisputed champion in three weight classes? His triumph, wrote Bryan Armen Graham in the (London) Guardian, “elevates him from generational talent into the all-time realm of lionhearted weight-jumpers like Harry Greb, Henry Armstrong, Roberto Durán and Manny Pacquiao.”

Crawford had four things going against him. He was the smaller man, the older man, the “B” side, and — with the fight taking place on a Mexican Independence Day weekend — his opponent would have the crowd in his corner, potentially biasing the judges.

One might also note that the Omaha native hails from a city without a strong boxing tradition. Google “best athletes from Omaha, past and present,” and Crawford is the only boxer among the 51 names that turn up. One could fairly say that with his historic win, Bud leapfrogged the great financier Warren Buffet as the most well-known citizen of Omaha.

We have seen Canelo Alvarez flummoxed before. Floyd Mayweather Jr did it when Canelo was still very green, winning a majority decision that probably should have been unanimous. Amir Khan did it for four rounds before Canelo dispatched him to dreamland with a spectacular one-punch knockout. Dmitry Bivol frustrated the Mexican redhead in Canelo’s second foray into the light heavyweight class, winning a close, albeit unanimous, decision. However, although this fight was hardly one-sided as reflected in the scorecards (116-112, 115-113, 115-113), Canelo was well-beaten at the finish. “By the final bell,” wrote Graham, “Álvarez looked weary and resigned to the outcome, swinging with hope rather than conviction. Crawford was fresh, elusive and in control of every exchange.”

Mark Kriegel noted that Crawford, although keeping his cards close to his vest, had been stalking Canelo for quite some time, even while competing two divisions below him. And while the incentive for others was a rich payday (think Jermell Charlo and William Scull), Crawford’s motivation wasn’t pecuniary; he wanted Canelo’s scalp for his legacy. Canelo was Crawford’s white whale, wrote Kriegel, an allusion to Herman Melville’s classic “Moby-Dick.”

The whale drowned Captain Ahab, but Terence Crawford wouldn’t be denied.

—

Canelo vs. Crawford was contested before an announced crowd of 70,482, a Las Vegas record that more than doubled the previous Las Vegas high (Holmes vs. Cooney). Seven days later, Crawford appeared before an even larger gathering (87,278) when he accompanied the Nebraska football team out of their tunnel for their match with the University of Michigan at Lincoln’s Memorial Stadium. He wore a Nebraska jersey bearing the number 168, the weight class that he now lorded over.

This was a feel-good moment in Cornhuskerland that would be marred on Crawford’s thirty-eighth birthday, Sept. 28, when he and three of his homies were taken from his car at gunpoint by Omaha police after he was stopped for driving over the speed limit. The incident in downtown Omaha happened shortly before 1:30 am on Sunday morning, literally hours after Crawford was feted with a parade and party in his honor.

According to the police report, the occupants were removed from the car for their own safety after an officer spied a firearm on the floorboard below the driver’s seat. Another handgun was found in possession of one of the people in the vehicle, a member of Crawford’s security team. (Perfectly legal, as Nebraska is a “constitutional carry” state, giving every resident over the age of 21 the right to carry a concealed handgun if purchased from a licensed dealer.) Crawford was cited for reckless driving and has a court date in December.

The mayor of Omaha, John Ewing Jr, distressed that such a happy day ended on such a discordant note, says the matter will be thoroughly investigated will full transparency. A former police officer and an associate minister at Omaha’s landmark Salem Baptist Church where Martin Luther King once spoke, Ewing reiterated comments he made the previous day: “[Bud is] a great ambassador for the city of Omaha, a great role model for our young people, and I still hold him in high esteem, and value him as a member of our community.”

To comment on this story in the Fight Forum CLICK HERE