Next month, Ryan Garcia will go toe-to-toe with Conor Benn in the first defence of his WBC welterweight title, and now former pound-for-pound king Terence Crawford has doubled down on his prediction for the clash.

Crawford hung up the gloves whilst recognised as the pound-for-pound number one in December, but that has not stopped ‘Bud’ from developing a heated rivalry with Garcia since his retirement, with the pair making regular jibes at one another in recent months.

Garcia has now revealed his intentions to tempt the undefeated southpaw out of retirement if he retains his title against Benn, but the Omaha-born sensation has declared his belief that Garcia will lose his belt to the Briton, favouring the challenger’s size and power.

Now, as fight week edges closer, Crawford has once again insisted that Benn will pull off the upset, as he told Fight Hub TV that he is picking ‘The Destroyer’ to come out on top.

“It’s going to be a good fight. I got Conor Benn!”

Benn will be competing at welterweight for the first time in nearly five years, looking to wrestle away the belt that Garcia won back in February with a win over Mario Barrios.

The event takes place on Saturday, September 12, at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, and on the undercard, Jai Opetaia is set to take on current WBC cruiserweight world champion Noel Mikaelian.

It currently remains to be seen whether the Armenian will still be the reigning titleholder when fight night comes around though, due to rumours that Mikaelian will be stripped for avoiding a fight with David Benavidez.

Terence Crawford faced and defeated 42 different opponents during a 17-year career, but super-middleweight icon Carl Froch believes that there is one welterweight who would have put an end to Crawford’s unbeaten streak if they were to meet in their primes.

Crawford became the first post-war boxer to claim the undisputed title in three separate weight divisions last September; a run which began as a super-lightweight in 2015 by defeating Thomas Dulorme, then unifying against Viktor Postol before halting Julius Indongo in an undisputed title showdown.

‘Bud’ then moved on to the welterweight scene and knocked out Jeff Horn to capture the WBO world title on his 147lb debut, making five defences of the title before colliding with fierce rival and three-belt unified titleholder, Errol Spence Jr, in 2023.

In a unforgettable fight, Crawford brutally beat Spence down in an authoritative ninth-round stoppage win to capture the undisputed welterweight throne. Talk then turned to an unprecedented three-weight move up to super-middleweight to take on Canelo Alvarez.

After stopping off at super-welterweight to dethrone Israil Madrimov on his way up, Crawford debuted at super-middleweight in a challenge for Canelo’s undisputed crown and outboxed the Mexican superstar in an iconic win last year, hanging up the gloves three months later.

Despite those legendary achievements, Froch picked Floyd Mayweather Jr to come out on top in a potential fantasy fight against the Omaha southpaw, in an episode of ‘Froch on Fighting’.

Mayweather’s achievements speak for themselves, retiring with a perfect 50-0 unbeaten record after claiming world honours in five divisions, with his most impressive reign coming at 147lbs, where he defeated the likes of Manny Pacquiao and Shane Mosley.

Mayweather has been rumoured to make a comeback, but while there would be huge finances that would be on offer, Crawford has revealed that he would have no interest in ending his retirement for a bout with ‘TBE’, believing that the 49-year-old is ‘old’ and ‘done’.

Terence Crawford has been hailed by many as the best fighter of this generation following his retirement, and now WBC welterweight title hopeful Conor Benn has shared how he thinks ‘Bud’ would have fared against six-division world champion Oscar De La Hoya.

Crawford became boxing’s sixth five-division world champion with an iconic win over Canelo Alvarez back in September; joining Thomas Hearns, Sugar Ray Leonard, De La Hoya, Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao in that elite and exclusive club reserved only for legends of the sport.

Of that group, only De La Hoya and Pacquiao have gone on to conquer a sixth division, with De La Hoya’s 2004 WBO middleweight world title win over Felix Sturm seeing the Californian become the first boxer to ever become a sextuple champion.

Crawford could have joined ‘’The Golden Boy’ and ‘Pac-Man’ in achieving that feat, having been offered a middleweight world title shot during the aftermath of his triumph over Canelo late last year – a proposal which later fell apart due to a failed doping test by Janibek Alimkhanuly.

Continuing the praise that the Omaha-born southpaw has received since announcing his retirement last December, Benn told Daily Mail Boxing that he would favour the undefeated star to get the better of De La Hoya, if they were to meet in their primes.

Benn also went on to predict that Crawford would retain his unbeaten streak against other greats of the game, picking him to come out on top against each of Mayweather, Julio Cesar Chavez, Pernell Whitaker and Roberto Duran.