By Bill Green

Brian “Bomac” McIntyre, manager/trainer of WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford, spoke to Fightnews.com® about Saturday’s clash between Crawford and former champion Jose Benavidez Jr. at the CHI Health Center Omaha (formerly the CenturyLink Center). Bomac also talked about Team Crawford members super featherweight Ismail Muwendo (19-1, 12 KOs) and light heavyweight Steve Nelson (11-0, 9 KOs) who are fighting on the card.

On Terence Crawford…

A few weeks ago, when we talked you said sparring was needed as “Bud” was simply busting up the crew quicker than expected. Is Crawford simply getting stronger at this level and weight?

Yeah, we are good on the sparring, we had to spend some money to bring in some more help. Yeah, Bud gets stronger and more accurate each and every camp. He’s disciplined both in the ring and outside of it, he’s mature as an athlete and as a person. But, the thing he doesn’t get credit for is his boxing IQ. It’s simply off the charts.

A lot of this promotion has been about the bad blood coming in and we are seeing a lot more talking by both fighters, especially on social media. Would it be fair to say, when you stay quiet Bud will dominate you but coast to a decision win but if you make it personal you rarely see the final bell.

I mean, we respect all our opponents and their teams, the talking was done and at the end of the day, they now have to deal with Bud because of it. I don’t read too much into it, each fight and fighter has strengths and weaknesses. My job and us coaches’ job are to find ways to exploit those. Bud is highly motivated to be the best in the division, so Benavidez saying this or that only adds fuel to the fire.

Benavidez was a top amateur with a reported record of 120-5, been in camp with Pacquiao, and at 6’3 poses a stiff challenge. Is quite possibly the best opponent on paper that Bud will face on Oct 13?

We shall see. He’s tough, we have seen him plenty of times. He has a good reputation in the boxing world. He’s determined and accepted the challenge when others wouldn’t. He’s with Top Rank and has been with them, they don’t just sign anybody. We respect his skills but I’m going to say this cause I’m saving the good stuff for next week lol. You can’t prepare for anybody like Terence Crawford and if you do he will adapt in the middle of the fight and figure you out anyways. Can the same be said for Benavidez?

On Steve Nelson…

Recently, I’ve seen some organizations rank Steven Nelson in their top 10 at 175, he mentioned to me the other day about fighting at 168. When it’s time to make some noise, do you see it being at 168 or 175?

Definitely 168, that’s why we have been fighting him at 172, and he has no problems making it. Steve just like Bud are gym rats, they don’t stay away from the gym, they practically live there.

His opponent Oscar Riojas, of Mexico, is known to be very durable and has been in with top rated super middleweights Derrick Webster 28-1 and Ronald Ellis 15-0. He went the distance with both and has fought 10 and 12 rounds on several occasions. What are your thoughts on him and when will we see Nelson at 10 Rounds?

Riojas, is extremely tough. He reminds me of the dude Kevin Ventura just fought. He comes forward takes a good shot, is durable and hard to get out of there. I like the match a lot because those names you mentioned, Steve belongs in that group. His time is coming. We should see him in his first 10 round bout in 2019. I expect a big year for him as well.

On Ismail Muwendo…

Muwendo is coming off his first loss and was dropped for the first time in his career, any worries facing a tough veteran such as Andre Wilson?

There’s no easy fights at this level, we are very familiar with Wilson, he’s crafty and has some pop to his punches but we believe in Ismail. He showed what kind of fighter he is in that defeat, he climbed off the canvas and honestly made the fight close despite the knockdowns. He will grow from that fight as a fighter, he will know he can get through moments like that. Corrections have been made and the kid put in the work, he’s ready to go.