Terence 'Bud' Crawford, the undefeated undisputed welterweight champion has made it clear he is not the biggest fan of Jermell Charlo, the undisputed junior middleweight champion.
Crawford's disdain for Charlo stems from his belief that Charlo is insincere, as Crawford feels that Charlo does attention-seeking tactics for publicity. Initially, Crawford and Charlo were on good terms, but as Crawford moved closer to Charlo's weight class, things changed, and even got heated in the build-up to Crawford facing Jermell Charlo's stablemate, Errol Spence Jr.
"I don't like Jermell Charlo, because I feel he is a fake individual," said Crawford on the Porter Way podcast, a boxing program started by two-time world champion, Shawn Porter. "I feel like Jermell is just one of those guys that do a lot for attention.”
The friction between Crawford and Charlo became more pronounced after Crawford's ninth-round knockout of Charlo's teammate, Errol 'The Truth' Spence Jr. After dropping Spence Jr., Crawford made sure to go over to Charlo and say something to him, that moment was captured by Showtime's cameras for 'All Access' video after the fight. The altercation or verbal jab seemed to indicate his intention to pursue a showdown with him in the future.
“I was cool with Jermell and Jermall and their older brother prior to me moving up in weight,” Crawford furthered. “I got messages with [Jermell] hitting me up, [saying] he’s going to pull up in Omaha, we’re talking about cars, we’re talking about all different type of stuff.”
Crawford clarified he doesn't harbor ill will or personal dislike for Charlo, but he isn't fond of him either.
“Once I moved up in the division — and I understand that they’re stablemates and he trains with Errol’s coach and they’ve been knowing each other for a long time," stated Crawford on that same podcast. "For him to start bashing me and talking bad about me and saying I’m going to get knocked out, just going out of his way to say little slick (expletive) about me, I was like, man, that’s some (expletive)."
It appears that given the nature feud between these two fighters, an organic rivalry is brewing for a future mega-fight.
Jermell Charlo, who is the undisputed junior middleweight world champion, is moving up to super middleweight to face the undisputed champion of that division, Canelo Alvarez in a historic undisputed versus undisputed fight.
