It would be a drastic understatement to describe Ilia Topuria as a confident prizefighter.
Topuria has risen to the top of the mixed martial arts world over the past couple years and this month has started making some wild claims about what he feels he could accomplish in boxing.
Terence Crawford cemented his status as a pound-for-pound great this past weekend with his convincing unanimous decision victory over Canelo Alvarez, yet Topuria believes he would knock Crawford out if they ever met in the squared circle.
In the week leading up to Crawford’s fight with Alvarez, Topuria began inserting his name into the conversation with various social media posts by suggesting he’s interested in dipping his toes into the boxing world in the future.
“I won’t talk about what would happen between me and Crawford in an octagon I’ll talk about what would happen in a ring,” Topuria posted on social media. “I put him to sleep in the first contact!!”
Crawford was asked about that statement during a fight week media availability. He laughed it off and said Topuria must’ve been drunk when making the comments.
The Omaha, Neb., native used the song “Cancion del Mariachi” by Los Lobos and Antonio Banderas from the Desperado soundtrack ahead of his fight with Alvarez, apparently unaware of the fact it’s the same song Topuria uses when he walks to the cage.
“First he calls me drunk… then he walks out to MY song,” Topuria posted the day after Crawford’s win. “Crawford, whenever you want, I’ll teach you how to dance that mariachi in the ring. And Canelo, I’ll save you a round after him.”
Crawford was asked about Topuria’s recent comments Monday in an interview with Ariel Helwani.
“To be honest, I’ve never even seen this guy fight. I ain’t even gonna lie. I’m not worried about that guy at all,” Crawford told Helwani. “I didn’t even know who he was. When he seen me at the UFC (Performance Institute), he came up to me to shake my hand and say ‘what’s up’ to me. I ain’t even know who he was, and then I see him online talking that he’d knock me out in the first round and this and that.
“Well, if you wanted to fight me, you had the opportunity to tell me, like, ‘Hey man, I want fight you. What’s up?’ Like, that’s fake. If I don’t like somebody, if I want to fight them for whatever reason, I would’ve been like, ‘hey what’s up, man? What do you think about me and you fighting?’ I’m not gonna go hide behind the keyboard and things like that and then be like, ‘Oh, I’ll knock this guy out.’ I think that’s fake.”
A hypothetical Crawford vs. Topuria boxing match would be the present-day equivalent of the blockbuster Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor bout from 2017, however Crawford does not appear interested in even considering it.
Crawford, who turns 38 later this month, is now 42-0 and an undisputed champion in three different weight classes. In addition to joining Mayweather and Dmitry Bivol as the only fighters to defeat Alvarez during his Hall of Fame-worthy career, Crawford also holds notable wins over Errol Spence Jr., Shawn Porter and Kell Brook this decade.
Topuria is the reigning UFC lightweight champion and former undisputed featherweight champ. He is 9-0 in the UFC and 17-0 in professional MMA overall. Only three of his nine UFC wins have been first-round knockout, including his highlight-reel KO of Charles Oliveira in June at UFC 317. The 28-year-old Spanish-Georgian star is currently ranked No. 1 on the UFC’s official pound-for-pound list.
“I definitely think he’s trying to clout chase,” Crawford added. “I think he’ll definitely get in the ring with me for the right cheque. That’s what we all do it for, but at the same time I don’t know what the (expletive) he’s thinking.”
Crawford didn’t go into specific detail on how he believes a boxing match with Topuria would go but he certainly inferred it would not be a good night for the UFC star.
Mayweather was 49-0 with one foot in retirement when he fought McGregor, who at the time was the UFC’s lightweight champion and a former featherweight champ. Mayweather ended up winning via technical knockout in the 10th round.
“He’s not nowhere near on the level of Conor McGregor. Let’s be real. Stop it. Don’t ever compare him to Conor. Conor was here, he’s here,” Crawford said of Topuria’s star power while making a wide gap gesture with his hands. “Like I said, I don’t know this guy. I’ve never seen this guy fight and I watch a lot of MMA. Maybe I’m slipping. Maybe he’s a good fighter. I don’t know, but I honestly have never seen this guy fight. I’ve seen Conor fight a lot of times. I’m just saying. It’s night and day. … Listen, tell that guy to keep up the good work in his career, and I wish him the best.”
Topuria responded to that interview Tuesday by posting: “You say you’re an MMA fan but you don’t even know who I am… interesting. The first time we met you told me ‘good luck this week with your fight.’ Your memory fails you… and soon your chin will too. I’ll represent the entire MMA community. Pound-for-pound #1 in real fights vs the pound-for-pound boxer.”
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