Terence Crawford revealed his dislike for Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis and said Shakur Stevenson would beat him. Crawford says he’s picking WBC lightweight champion Stevenson to defeat Tank because he wouldn’t be able to “land his shots” on him. His defense is too good.

Terence doesn’t say how Stevenson can beat Tank if his whole focus is non-engagement and avoiding getting hit. That’s all he does, and fans hate that outdated throwback Mayweather-esque hit-and-not-get-hit style from the early 2000s. If Crawford’s efforts at trash-talking Tank into giving his friend Shakur a fight, he’d be doing him a real solid, but it’s not going to work. Gervonta wasn’t born yesterday. He knows what Crawford is trying to do.

Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs) has been begging for a fight against the superstar Tank Davis (30-0, 28 KOs) since he moved up to 135 in 2024, but he’s done nothing to market himself as being worthy of sharing the ring with him. Shakur has performed poorly in his last two fights against Artem Harutyunyan and Edwin De Los Santos. He had fans walking out against Harutyunyan and booing him out of existence in the De Los Santos matchup.

Crawford’s Personal Dislike for Davis

“He would not even think about coming up to 154,” said Terence Crawford to Cigar Talk about Gervonta Davis. “Yes, if he could pick his opponent,” said Terence when asked if Tank would come up to 147.

“If Tank could pick his opponent, he would do it, but he would never come from 135 to 154,” said Crawford, failing to realize that Tank has already moved up two divisions. I really don’t like that dude because I don’t like him. I don’t like nothing about him.

“I feel like he’s one of those arrogant little dues that is using what he got to shield him. He’s got a lot of security guards around him, and he knows he’s in the limelight. In certain situations, he wouldn’t be acting like that,” said Crawford.

Tank Davis has already moved up two weight classes from the start of his career at 126. So, why would he need to go up another three divisions to fight at 154? What is that all about? Yeah, Crawford is a former four-division world champion, but he’s not fought great opposition in those weight classes. He’s moving up to 168 for a one-off to get a payday against Canelo Alvarez. It’s not like Crawford is going to stay there afterward.

He’s just going for the payday, take his loss, and likely retire or return from whence he came at 154. If he does come back down to junior middleweight, it’ll only be to cherry-pick Sebastian Fundora, a vulnerable champion. He’s not about to fight anyone good, like Bakrahm Murtazaliev, Vergil Ortiz Jr, Serhii Bohachuk, or rematch Israil Madrimov.

“He’s a damn good fighter, I respect him as a fighter. He’s got skills, he’s got power, and he’s got tremendous boxing ability. But his core personality and his ways, nah. I got Shakur,” said Crawford when asked who would win a fight between Tank Davis and Shakur Stevenson.

“Like I said, I respect Tank. In boxing, he’s one of the ones. We’re going to take his personality and personal things out of it. In boxing, he’s definitely talented, and he definitely has got that it. He’s definitely respected in boxing, but Shakur is a different fighter.”

Shakur: The Boring Truth

Crawford is right. Shakur is a “different fighter,” but he’s poisonous for the fans and not good for the sport in terms of helping it grow. It’s not by accident that Shakur’s fight against Floyd Schofield is buried on Saturday’s undercard on February 22nd in Riyadh. He’s been placed in that spot for obvious reasons.

“Shakur is different. People may say he’s boring. People may say he can’t punch, but they said the same thing about Floyd because they’re defensive fighters,” said Crawford. “Tank is not going to be able to hit Shakur like he hit everybody else. He knows that, and that’s why, ‘He’s boring. He’s this, he’s that.’”

I hate to break this to Crawford, but Tank WOULD be able to hit Shakur and hurt him. He’s not untouchable. Terence may have formed his opinion of Shakur being unhittable from watching him beat lesser opposition in recent years, but he definitely does get hit unless he runs. He should have lost the fight against Edwin De Los Santos because he didn’t throw punches.

“He’s trying to diminish everything that Shakur has done, so it’s not marketable,” said Crawford. “But he can’t do that because Shakur is a three-weight world champion. How many actual titles has Tank had? Like two? Real titles. [Jose] Pedraza, he drained Pedraza. Let’s do it on an even playing field. Give that man time to train.”

Gervonta is telling it like it is by saying that Shakur is boring because that’s the truth. Fighters that have that style are so afraid to get hit that they’ll go out of their way not to be touched. They need to be weeded out of the sport.

“Tank is great for what he do, and I respect Tank in the ring and his skills, his power, and attributes. He’s smart. He can box his a** off. I’m not saying I would pick Shakur just because of our differences. I’m telling you as a fighter. I would pick Shakur because I don’t think Tank would be able to land his shots on him like he does everything else. Shakur’s defense is too tight.