Boxing

Roy Jones Jr Explains Reasoning Behind Terence Crawford-Floyd Mayweather Debate Pick

Boxing icon Roy Jones Jr. weighed in with a powerful stance on whether Terence Crawford is better than Floyd Mayweather.
Grant Young|
Terence Crawford on September 9, 2025.
Terence Crawford on September 9, 2025. | IMAGO / Hoganphotos

In the wake of Terence Crawford's unanimous decision victory against Canelo Alvarez on September 13 (which gave Crawford the undisputed super middleweight champion and the first male boxer to win three undisputed championships in his career), there has been a lot of debate about whether Crawford has surpassed Floyd Mayweather as the greatest boxer of this century.

Canelo made his opinion on which is better extremely clear during his post-fight press conference after losing to Crawford when he said, "I think Crawford is way better than Floyd Mayweather."

Sports media icon Stephen A. Smith also conveyed his own stance on this subject in the wake of Crawford's win by saying, "I'm not gonna sit up here and say that," when asked whether Crawford is better than Floyd Mayweather after Canelo vs. Crawford ended.

"I think that Floyd Mayweather was such a magician defensively. You have to look at Floyd 'Money' Mayweather in this regard: Once he moved up to welterweight, his hands were always damaged. So he kinda knew he wasn't gonna be able to knock you out, for the most part. And still, he walked into the ring and put on masterful performances because he was so superior, skill-wise and defensively," Smith added.

Stephen A. Smith (Stephen Smith) on the ESPN NBA Countdown live set on October 23, 2024
Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Roy Jones. Jr. Weighs In On Crawford vs. Mayweather Debate

Boxing icon Roy Jones Jr. has been beefing with Mayweather over the past few months, ever since Mayweather posted a video to his social media channels earlier this year of him watching a video of every time Jones Jr. was knocked out.

And perhaps this beef played a part in Jones Jr.'s stance on the Mayweather vs. Crawford debate during his October 25 interview with Fight Hub TV.

"To me, he is, because he challenges himself, " Jones Jr. said when asked whether Crawford is better than Mayweather at this point. "Don't get me wrong; Floyd ain't no bad fighter. Floyd is a hell of a sharp fighter. But I ain't gonna say [Crawford is] a better fighter. I'm just saying I can appreciate him more because he challenges himself. Floyd never challenges himself.

"So if you're [asking] me who I want to see between Floyd and Terence, I want to see Terence, cause Terence gonna challenge himself. Floyd may be a better fighter. Floyd is slick, and he can really fight. I don't underestimate Floyd's boxing ability. Floyd has great boxing ability. Floyd is one of the best ever. But Floyd just never challenges himself."

It will be interesting to see what the reaction to this sentiment is.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young is a Staff Writer for On SI’s Boxing, New York Mets, Indiana Fever, and Women’s Fastbreak sites. Before joining SI in 2024, he wrote for various boxing and sports verticals such as FanBuzz and NY Fights. Young has a bachelor’s degree in marketing and a master’s degree in creative writing with an emphasis on sports nonfiction from the University of San Francisco, where he played five seasons of Division 1 baseball. He fought Muay Thai professionally in Thailand in 2023, loves a good essay, and is driven crazy trying to handle a pitpull puppy named Aura. Young lives in San Diego and was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area.