Terence Crawford Camp Update Part 1 of 2

By Bill Green
Photos: Bill Green

For the biggest or most significant fight in his career, #3 P4P World Champion, Terence “Bud” Crawford (31-0, 22 KOs) is preparing for fellow undefeated multi-belt holder Julius Indongo (22-0, 11 KOs), in the Omaha native’s neighboring and adoptive home away from home, Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Fightnews will provide several camp updates, interviews, press quotes and all the fight week activities as we are just a few weeks away from the big unification bout scheduled for August 19th, 2017 live on ESPN 10pm ET at the Pinnacle Bank Arena located near Crawford’s hometown, Lincoln, Nebraska. Crawford vs Indongo is scheduled for 12 rounds and will be “for all the belts” something that is simply unheard of in today’s sport.

Crawford will be putting up his 140lb WBC and WBO titles while Indongo puts up the WBA and IBF 140lb titles. The stacked card will be the third edition of Bob Arum/Top Rank Promotions’ new deal with ESPN.

An exciting undercard will feature top up-and-coming fighters in the sport including Olympian Shakur Stevenson (2-0, 1 KO), and big names like two-time former world champion, “Mile High” Mike Alvarado (37-4, 25 KOs), Maryland’s undefeated super lightweight Mike “Yes Indeed” Reed (22-0, 12 KOs), former two-weight division champion Nicholas “The Axe Man” Walters (26-1-1, 21 KOs), Philadelphia’s former world heavyweight title challenger Bryant “Bye-Bye” Jennings (19-2, 10 KOs) and rising prospects Steven “So Cold” Nelson (8-0, 7 KOs) and Kevin “Badass” Ventura (7-0, 6 KOs) both out of Omaha.

Terence Crawford and his manager/trainer Brian “Bomac” McIntyre spoke to Fightnews.com®.

Hello BoMac, how is camp going?

BoMac: Camp, is going real smooth. We have been here already for 5 weeks and it’s like clockwork. Things are right where they need to be.

As of late several fighters and managers are finally taking notice of how successful and productive camp is for Team Crawford. Who is all up there with you guys this go around?

BoMac: We have Abel Soriano, Jamontey Clark, Jamel Herring, Steve Nelson, Trevin Coleman, Shakur Stevenson, Bryant Jennings, and Kevin Ventura. Colorado Springs is great elevation, clean air, people are nice, hills, mountains, everything you need. This place is like a hidden secret. This is where we work and we simply love it.

Wow, that’s two Olympians in Stevenson and Herring, a former world title challenger in heavyweight Jennings, and four rising prospects in Clark, Soriano, Ventura and Nelson.

We all know that Terence trains hard for every opponent, however, with this fight being so significant, have you noticed anything different from him?

BoMac: Not really, he always trains hard. I will say this, he’s not taking it easy on sparring partners. These guys are hurting up here. He is picking up the tempo big time. So, yes, you could say so, the intensity is up but the closer that we get to the fight, this is what he does and that is what we want from him.

Indongo sat ringside for the Diaz fight, do you believe they were impressed?

Bomac: They may tell you different but I’m sure they were, the way he handled Diaz. Especially, with how well others performed with Diaz.

Terence, you asked me the other day, if I thought you were a better fighter now or when you were at the lower weights and coming up. They say some people are their worst critics, what things do you feel like you want to improve on moving forward in your career?

Crawford: Ring generalship and IQ. I study my craft, need to break bad habits, work on perfecting my skills. A great fighter must recognize the areas to improve on, especially with a different opponent each time out. Indongo will bring something different than what Diaz did and so forth. Listening to my team, we in this together.

Last question champ, every fighter says they train hard for camp. Do you feel like you are the hardest worker in the sport?

Crawford: Tough question, because I’m so into my camp and career, I’m not sure how others go about it but yes, I do feel that way. Others I’m sure train hard, I look at it this way: my sacrifice, sweat and work is paying off. I believe it’s what allows me to stay strong early and late into the fights. I want to give my opponent no weaknesses and win decisively.

* * *

Look for part 2 of the training camp as we discuss more in detail regarding how Team Crawford will deal with Indongo’s reach and height advantages.

See you ringside

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