Top Ranked P4P Boxer Says Ilia Topuria Was Drunk When he Called Me Out
Ilia Topuria recently made some headlines for comments that he made about how he would do in a pure boxing bout against Terence Crawford and the latter has responded. The UFC lightweight champion came out recently and seemingly apropos of nothing claimed that he would be able to hand ‘Bud’ Crawford his first ever pro boxing loss.
This despite the fact that Ilia Topuria has never competed under Queensberry Rules and Crawford has become a multi-division champion through his pugilistic pursuits as a professional. Posting on his personal X page, Topuria stated,
“I won’t talk about what would happen between me and [Terence] Crawford in an Octagon; I’ll talk about what would happen in a ring. I put him to sleep in the first contact!!”
The claim he would be able to KO Crawford drew a response from the targeted fighter in question as Crawford prepares to fight Canelo Alvarez on September 13th. ‘Bud’ Crawford will be jumping up multiple weight categories to further galvanize his already rock solid legacy in the pursuit of unseating the undisputed super middleweight champion from his throne.
Responding to the bold claims from Topuria at Wednesday’s fight week media day leading into this massive Las Vegas fight, Crawford said,
“That dude drunk. A lot of MMA guys drink a lot so he must’ve been on that alcohol that day.”
Ilia Topuria not given the nod as UFC’s best boxer by Terence Crawford
Some have contemplated on why Ilia Topuria fired off this shot at Terence Crawford and some think it’s rooted in the latter not picking the former as the best boxer in the UFC. In fact, the individual that ‘Bud’ picked had many questioning how actively Crawford was keeping up with watching the MMA powerhouse in recent years.
Crawford had previously picked former UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt as the individual who had the best hands in mixed martial arts. ‘Bud’ doubled down on this sentiment at the same media day that Crawford commented on Topuria as Terence Crawford quipped [via MMA Fighting],
“There’s a few other people, but Cody [Garbrandt] is just one that always stuck out to me, before we were even friends. I looked at him and was like, ‘Man, this dude can box.’”
While Cody Garbrandt has shown impressive stand up skills that eventually netted him the 135 pound crown, he has also gone 3-7 in recent years since he cemented himself as the champion.
