Outside Source
Ilia Topuria had rubbed a lot of people the wrong way during his meteoric rise.
Topuria’s (17-1) perfect record was broken by Justin Gaethje in their lightweight title fight at the White House last month. While the former was a massive favorite, Gaethje landed significant damage in the third and fourth rounds, forcing Topuria’s corner to throw in the towel after the fourth in a shocking upset.
Boxing legend Terence Crawford was among those quick to address the result after the fight.
Why Terence Crawford took issue with lia Topuria’s comments
Crawford, who was in attendance at UFC Freedom 250, mocked Topuria after his loss. He wrote on X:
“This is the guy that said he would knock me out and whoop me and Shakur at the same time?”
Crawford recently explained why he taunted Topuria. He claims he didn’t even know about the former two-division UFC champion until “El Matador” started calling out boxers. Topuria had said that he would knock out Crawford, Shakur Stevenson, and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, which caught Crawford’s attention.
He recently told Ariel Helwani that he wasn’t impressed by Topuria’s performance and gave his reasoning for mocking the Georgian-Spaniard.
“I didn’t know who he was until he came out saying he would knock me and Canelo out, and I’m like, ‘Who’s this guy?’ Everybody’s saying he’s got this enormous boxing ability, that he can go into boxing and do real well. So, I’m really tuning in. This is my first time seeing him in a fight. And the first impression wasn’t the best impression.
“For him to come out and say he gonna beat me, one of the best fighters of all time, knocking me out, I think it was a sign of disrespect,” he added. “I’ve been doing boxing since I was 7 years old. There’s no way that this guy is gonna come in there and do anything to me that I ain’t never seen before. So, seeing him get hit with the jab and the 1-2 the whole fight, I’m like, ‘What? What’s everybody excited about?’”
Crawford hung up his gloves this past December at 38-year-old with a perfect 42-0 record.
This the guy that said he would knock me out and whoop me and Shakur at the same time?😂😂😂
— Terence Crawford (@terencecrawford) June 15, 2026
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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