Terence Crawford is taking partial credit for Keyshawn Davis’ fourth-round knockout victory on Friday night against WBO lightweight champion Denys Berinchyk at Madison Square Garden Theater in New York City. Crawford says he told Keyshawn (13-0, 9 KOs) from the crowd to go to Berinchyk’s body, and when he did, he started “slowing him down.”

(Credit: Mikey Williams/Top Rank Boxing)

Manufacturing a Star

The REAL reason why Keyshawn won is because he was much younger and bigger than the 5’7″ Berinchyk. There was no way Earth that Berinchyk was going to beat a fighter the size of Keyshawn. Berinchyk looked small inside the ring with Keyshawn. Do you think it’s by accident that the Top Rank-promoted Davis fights at lightweight rather than middleweight?

That’s why he probably shouldn’t have fought him. Did you see the size difference between them? Davis looked like he walked in the wrong ring, thinking it was for a middleweight bout. Before this fight, I wondered why Top Rank wanted Keyshawn, 25, to urgently fight Berinchyk.

But after seeing them tonight, it’s obvious why they wanted this fight. It’s one that Davis could win with flying colors. Andy Cruz is the guy he should be facing, but he doesn’t want him, and neither does Top Rank. You know why. Keyshawn’s size wouldn’t help him against Cruz. He’ll never fight the Cuban because he’d lose, and obviously, his promoters know that, too.

It’s how you manufacture a star. Have them melt down and fight in weight class three divisions below their size. Besides that, you have other stuff like name-dropping, sending bananas and watermelons to yourself, and blaming your opponent for sending it. Then you verbally abuse them in the press conference, treating it like it’s a show trial, not allowing them to defend themselves.

“He looked at me, and I said, ‘Good body shot. Start going down to that body.’ He started going down to the body and slowing him down,” said Terence Crawford to Sean Zittel about Keyshawn Davis listening to his advice during his fight against 36-year-old Denys Berinchyk.

“His punches were sharp. I said, ‘Everything is under control.’ It would be a tremendous fight,” said Crawford when asked what his thoughts on a fight between Keyshawn Davis and Gervonta Davis. “You have two talented fighters. Both of them are counter-punchers. Both of them are smart.

“Tank might have a little more power, but Keyshawn has power, too. It would be a great fight, and I think Keyshawn would win. We’re different in a lot of ways,” said Crawford about him and Keyshawn. “He has his style, and I have my style. We both have great styles, and Keyshawn is going to be around for a long time.”

If that had been Gervonta Davis inside the ring tonight, Keyshawn would have been knocked out because he was getting hit a lot. The rumored 20-lb weight advantage that Keyshawn had over Berinchyk wouldn’t have been enough to keep him from getting beaten by Tank.

“I’m happy for him. He worked hard to get where he’s at. The skies are the limit for that dude. I see a bright future for him. He’s going to do big things in the sport of boxing.

“It’ll be in Las Vegas for sure,” said Crawford about the fight between him and Canelo Alvarez.