Last month, Terence Crawford announced his retirement from boxing, but when recalling which opponent hit him the hardest during the entirety of his professional career, ‘Bud’ provided an unexpected response.
Crawford hung up the gloves two months on from a career-defining victory over Canelo Alvarez, as the Omaha-born phenomenon became the first fighter to become a three-weight undisputed champion in the four-belt era and just the second of all time.
That super-middleweight triumph is made all the more impressive by the fact that Crawford first claimed world honours as a lightweight, making the win sit as one of the most impressive triumphs since the turn of the millennium.
However, despite moving up multiple weight-classes to face Canelo, Crawford explained that he did not feel overwhelmed by the punch power of the super-middleweight superstar. Instead, in the post-fight interview, Crawford named Lithuanian welterweight Egidijus Kavaliauskas as a harder puncher.
“I’ve been hit harder in a real fight. ‘Mean Machine’ [Kavaliauskas] hit harder than Canelo, to me, to be honest.”
Kavaliauskas collided with Crawford back in 2019 in his maiden challenge for a world title, where he was stopped by the American after nine rounds of action. He does, however, have a claim as the only man to drop the American star. Though Crawford touching the canvas in round three was ruled a slip, most feel that the referee should have awarded a knockdown.
That shortcoming was the first of Kavaliauskas’s career, but the 37-year-old has been trumped by both Vergil Ortiz Jr and Souleymane Cissokho since.
The Kaunas contender has since bounced back from defeat to Cissokho, after a controversial win against Samuel Molina on home soil saw him get his hands on the EBU European welterweight crown and rise to #7 in the WBC 147lb ratings.
