Crawford didn’t look convincing in his last outing against Canelo. The scale difference showed, but the problem went beyond that. He struggled to impose himself, spent long stretches reacting, and never built sustained control of the fight.
The bout before that against Israil Madrimov was closer than expected. Crawford needed to work to settle into it, and there have been rounds where Madrimov repeatedly nailed him with clean right hands. Crawford edged that fight by scores of 115-113, 116-112, and 115-113.
Those two fights were meant to verify Crawford at the upper weights. They as an alternative raised questions on how far that success carries once he leaves his natural range.
The opposition also must be considered. Crawford moved right into a title fight at 154 without going through the opposite leading names within the division. The identical pattern showed at 168. He went straight to Canelo without facing the contenders needed to prove himself worthy of a title shot.
That approach matters when evaluating how good a fighter is at a brand new weight. Beating the highest contenders often answers those questions. Skipping them leaves the reply incomplete.
Even the win over Errol Spence needs context. Spence had not looked the identical since his 2019 automotive crash. He got here into that fight diminished in comparison with his earlier form, and the performance reflected it.
Crawford stays a high-level fighter, and his skill set remains to be there. The recent run doesn’t show that he is working above everyone else across divisions.
Ryan’s claim is aggressive. The direction of Crawford’s recent fights makes it easier to grasp why he’s saying it.
Whether Crawford responds is one other matter. His coach Bernie Davis has said he would want $100 million for a return, and that level of cash is unlikely to materialize, particularly after the muted response to the Canelo fight.