Undefeated and undisputed champion Terence “Bud” Crawford spoke recently with retired fighter Andre Ward on ESPN’s ringside on his past street life and coming up in the fight gang.
We all have a past and sometimes we don’t like to revisit certain aspects that helped us grow from a hard time. Bud Crawford is one of those individuals that doesn’t like revisiting his early boxing years in reference to being shot.
Back in 2008, after just winning his fourth fight earlier in the month as a prize fighter, Crawford recalled shooting dice with his boys in Nebraska. After going into his car Bud recalled according to World Boxing News,
“I was counting,” he says. “…$20, $40….then, POW!”
Bud was the shot in the back of the head from a 9MM handgun after reportedly, the shooter was aiming down someone within Crawford’s camp, but mistakenly pierced the back of Crawford instead.
In reference to this incident, Crawford briefly told Andre Ward,
“I’m not proud about getting shot. I could’ve died, I got shot in the head. Ain’t nothing to be proud about.”
From the interview you can sense the emotion from Crawford wanting to forever forget this incident, and not continuously be reminded that he was shot.
Some fighters, and people in general like to be labeled “hard” because they’re perhaps a survivor from a potential fatality, but not Bud.
Crawford reiterated that he hates this topic even being brought up. That was the old lifestyle of the street life that Bud has left behind and he’s a new man. On the notion why he hasn’t fought the top welterweights specifically Errol Spence Jr, Bud states,
“Im taking them how they come and Im knocking them off”
“Im not all about the talk, Im about that action”
Bud is referring to the naysayers who think he’s not vocal enough to call out fighters. Bud was stated saying that he thinks because he’s so quiet, the promoters don’t believe he’s marketable, but when comparing his numbers versus there’s he think the numbers speak for themselves.
The question that everyone wants to know in which Ward clearly asked Bud is that does he believe a potential fight with Spence is on the horizon ever; Bud says No. It’s the Politics of Boxing.
Crawford went further in depth to talk about his next fight with Egidijus and how the media is changing the narrative of now that he’s fighting him that all of a sudden he’s a bum.
“How can you be a two time Olympian and be a bum”
Bud also mentions how Mayweather went through the same critiques from ill informed media members that didn’t know boxing and thought that Floyd was picking the right time to fight a superstar fighter.
Terence says he knows exactly how Floyd felt.
Flip the page to see the entire interview with Andre Ward and segment with him mentioning the time he was shot in the back of the head.
