Crawford Praises Garcia’s Victory Over Oscar Duarte

Terence Crawford has revealed that Ryan Garcia did well in his fight with Oscar Duarte.

Garcia bounced back from his loss to Gervonta Davis to stop the Mexican in the eighth round to make a statement in the 140-pound division. Duarte had stopped his last 11 opponents, with only one defeat to his name, showing that Garcia was facing a serious operator.

During the fight, Garcia showed that his left hook was as destructive as ever as the shot set up the stoppage. Not only that, but Garcia also employed a shoulder roll at some stages of the fight, showing that he was adding new things to his game. In response, this is what Crawford had to say.

Crawford On Garcia

“I watched the fight. He did good. He made some key adjustments in the fight from standing there in front of the dude, the moving and picking his shots.  didn’t like him turning like that. I didn’t like that. Like I said, he made some key adjustments to lead him to victory, and congratulations to Ryan. I said Ryan wouldn’t take that fight [with Shakur] right now. It’s Shakur against anybody in the [lightweight] division right now. I don’t think nobody wants to see Shakur right now in his division,” Crawford said 

Despite this being the case, Crawford does not see Garcia fighting Shakur Stevenson. Prior to the Duarte fight, Garcia had indicated his willingness to face the fighter on the grounds that he was not impressed with Shakur’s win over Edwin De Los Santos to become the WBC lightweight champ.

The criticism was based on the need to humble Stevenson, whom Garcia felt had disrespected him. However, a fight between the two could only happen if Shakur moved up to 140. And since the fighter is at 135, Garcia is unlikely to move back down or do a catchweight. 

Crawford On Shakur

Outside of that, Crawford defended the backlash Stevenson had faced for his performance. The boxer ultimately became a three-division champion even if he was booed out of the ring for fighting on the back foot with his jab. And given that a win is ultimately the most important thing, Crawford had nothing but good words to say since Shakur did have a hand injury. 

“You can say whatever you want. [And] you can say he’s boring. You can say he don’t punch. You can say all these things about him, but I don’t see nobody eager to get in the ring with him. All in all, he [Shakur] got the job done, and to me, he looked good doing it. He did set a record for least punches in a twelve round fight landed on him. Yeah, he wasn’t getting hit. Boxing is called boxing for a reason. It’s hit and not get hit. So he [Shakur] mastered that, and I’m proud of him and on to the next,” Crawford

Unlike Stevenson, however, Garcia has shown that he has the ability to bring in huge fans to watch his fights. But as for Shakur, the boxer needs to work on resonating with the fanbase.