Errol Spence Jr delivered the decisive verdict when asked to name who was better between Floyd Mayweather Jr and Terence Crawford, two fighters he sparred and fought with respectively.
Former unified world champion lost the titles to Crawford in 2023 when their welterweight fight turned into a completely one-sided spectacle.
Before his painful ninth-round stoppage loss, Spence was considered by many to be the top dog at 147 pounds, having defeated the likes of Shawn Porter, Danny Garcia and Yordenis Ugas during his title reigns.
Crawford, however, firmly established himself in the division before moving up to 154 pounds, where he dethroned Israil Madrimov to become a four-division world champion.
The Nebraskan then moved up to 168 pounds, his fifth weight class, and capped off his stellar career by defeating Canelo Alvarez to become the undisputed three-division champion last year.
Crawford is widely considered to have reached his peak as a welterweight, even if the standard of his opponents didn’t quite reflect his size.
For this reason, “Bud’s” career is often compared to that of Mayweather, who fought in multiple divisions but arguably had his most notable victories at 147 pounds.
However, according to Spence, there is really no such rivalry between the two, as a sparring session in 2013 was ultimately enough to convince him that Mayweather was the better fighter.
I’m talking to Fighting the noise“The Truth” was emphatic that Mayweather’s overall skill set and psychological advantage were significantly superior to Crawford’s.
“It’s a massive difference. Floyd is just different. I feel like he’s the best fighter. I don’t know what he’ll be like all the time, he might be the best fighter of all time, and if not, he’s close.
Floyd does things. He was a lot older when I sparred with him, and there are certain things he does that are really arduous.
We got to the clinch and he was like squeezing my nose so I couldn’t breathe and stuff like that. Veteran, something of an all-timer. Mentally I feel he is the best.”
Mayweather sparred Spence in preparation for his WBC title defense against Robert Guerrero, which came more than a decade before the Texan’s loss to Crawford.