“I feel Shakur wipes the ground with Ryan,” Crawford said on DAZN. “I don’t think Ryan goes to give you the chance to hit Shakur like Barrios. Barrios was right there to be hit. Barrios was too slow and didn’t have a gameplan. Barrios followed Ryan the entire fight. Shakur just isn’t a fighter who gets hit. It’s easy.”
Crawford’s assessment was about translation. Barrios engaged at mid-range and allowed Garcia to set his feet. He followed him and absorbed clean counters. Stevenson doesn’t fight that way. He controls range along with his lead hand, steps off after scoring, and forces opponents to achieve. Against Teofimo Lopez last month, Stevenson won rounds through positioning and timing quite than prolonged exchanges. Crawford sees that as a nasty equation for Garcia.
Garcia, now 25-2 with 20 knockouts, claimed the WBC welterweight title with the win over Barrios and immediately called out Stevenson. Stevenson agreed to the fight, provided it moves forward at a 144-pound catchweight. Stevenson, unbeaten through 25 fights with 11 stoppages, recently captured The Ring and WBO junior welterweight titles in his divisional debut. Crawford also pointed to history.
“They’ve been within the ring together as amateurs, and Garcia didn’t beat him, so what makes him think he’s going to beat Shakur as knowledgeable?”
Garcia’s performance against Barrios showed patience and improved composure, something Crawford acknowledged.
“I used to be actually surprised how Barrios looked. I believed he was going to do slightly bit higher. Ryan showed that he can box slightly bit and got the job done in spectacular fashion,” said Crawford.
Even so, Crawford drew a transparent line between beating Barrios and facing Stevenson.
“I definitely think Ryan goes to have a number of confidence, but at the identical time, it’s different going up against a fighter like Shakur. It’s different with Shakur, mentally, emotionally, physically.”
The proposed matchup now carries public interest, but inside Stevenson’s circle, there appears to be little doubt. Crawford just isn’t treating it as a 50-50 fight. He sees it as a mode equation, and in his view, Garcia’s offense doesn’t solve it.