Photos: Mikey Williams/Top Rank
Following Wednesday’s media day tensions, Terence “Bud” Crawford and Jose Benavidez Jr. were a bit more civil at Thursday’s press conference. The trash talk led to an extended face-off, as pound-for-pound king Crawford (33-0, 24 KOs) readies to defend his WBO welterweight world title against Benavidez (27-0, 18 KOs) Saturday at the CHI Health Center Omaha on ESPN.
Terence Crawford: “This is my fourth time fighting in Omaha, and I’m happy to be back. Like I said, there’s no place like home. He said we’re all bark but no bite. Come Saturday, he’s gonna find out how hard I bite. I ain’t even gotta do too much talking because I know what’s gonna happen come Saturday.”
Jose Benavidez Jr: “It’s been a great camp. We’ve been {in Omaha} for three weeks. We’re training hard. You’re going to see a new champion Saturday night. I don’t see nothing special in Crawford. I don’t know why everyone is scared of him. Everyone is sleeping and soon they’re going to wake up and I’m going to beat his ass Saturday evening. You guys ain’t scaring nobody. You best bring your A-game on Saturday because you’re going to get your ass beat. Guaranteed. You better enjoy that belt because Saturday, that belt is going to be mine.”
Brian McIntyre (Crawford’s trainer/manager): “I can’t say if they’re worthy or not, but I know for sure they ain’t ever been at this level before. For them to come into our city and talk all the trash they’ve been talking…. for them to talk all that trash they’re talking and not knowing what they’re getting into, two things I gotta say to that: I respect that because that’s total confidence, and you fuc*ed up, dude.”
Jose Benavidez Sr. (trainer of Benavidez Jr.): “We’re here to show the world that we’re ready to make a big upset, and we’re going to take that belt and we’re going to represent the Mexican people, and like I said, the Hispanic people. We worked so hard.”
Bob Arum: “There are some matches that you particularly look forward to. This welterweight championship {featuring challenger} Jose Benavidez, who we started with when he was about 16 or 17 years of age… now, he has grown into a man. Terence Crawford, all of his fights or most of his fights we promoted, certainly in the last four or five years all of his fights. To see these two great warriors, Jose challenging and Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford defending, it’s, for me, a real honor and a privilege. It’s wonderful to be here.”
“The fighters are ready. This is going to be a spectacular event. We look forward to millions of people watching on ESPN.”
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