Terence Crawford has fired heavy artillery at Oscar De La Hoya, responding to the promoter’s suggestion that he would have got knocked out by a pound-for-pound legend.
It is fair to say that Crawford, an immensely proud competitor, does not take kindly to any fantasy matchup where he fails to come out on top.
The three-division undisputed champion is unbeaten as a professional, while having also cemented himself as a first ballot Hall of Famer.
But while the super-middleweight king does have full confidence in his ability, Golden Boy boss De La Hoya nonetheless believes that a certain Manny Pacquiao would have had his number.
When asked by Mail Sport Boxing how a prime-for-prime battle between Crawford and Pacquiao would have unfolded, De La Hoya immediately favoured the Filipino to win by knockout.
The Californian did suffer an eighth-round stoppage defeat to ‘Pac Man’ in 2008, back when their welterweight contest swiftly became a one-sided beatdown.
At that point, De La Hoya was coming towards the end of his career while Pacquiao, known for his explosive speed and ferocious power, was largely considered to be in or around his prime.
Despite previously campaigning in lower weight classes, the eight-division world champion was nonetheless a formidable force at 147lbs, also beating the likes of Miguel Cotto, Antonio Margarito and Shane Mosley.
But even so, Crawford, who became the undisputed welterweight king following a ninth-round finish over Errol Spence Jr in 2023, has insisted in a post on X that he would have convincingly beaten both Pacquiao and De La Hoya in their primes.
“[De La Hoya] said [Pacquiao] would have beat me because he got stopped by him.
“Look… I would have f***ed you, Pacquiao and whoever you [think] would have beat me the f*** up. Just because I’m responsible doesn’t mean s***.”