Crawford lays it on the line as Khan faces toughest test

AMIR KHAN knows he faces the fight of his life and the maestro who will be in the opposite corner in Madison Square Garden this Saturday night has spelled out in menacing detail the enormity of the task facing Bolton’s favourite sporting son. Terence Crawford (below), the undefeated world welterweight champion, has no hesitation in making this pronouncement: ‘I am the best boxer in the world — hands down.’ How so, we pluck up the temerity to ask, since he figures second to Vasyl Lomachenko in the major rankings of the leading pound-forpound fighters on the planet? Bud, as his fellow Americans call him, is usually a man of few words but he offers this crisp and penetrating rationale of his claim to ring supremacy. ‘I can box at range or fight close up, whatever’s needed. I can box equally as well on the back foot or the front foot and I have very good sideways movement. I’m a southpaw who is just as comfortable when switching to orthodox. ‘I have hand speed as well as punching power and I am excellent defensively. I’m an intelligent fighter who adapts to any opponent. I believe I am the complete boxer so, yes, I think I’m the No 1 pound-forpound.’ So much for Lomachenko, then? Even though he reinforced his claim to the throne with the weekend’s four-round demolition of Manchester hero Anthony Crolla, the mandatory challenger for his WBA and WBO world lightweight titles. Yet Khan does not hold Crawford in quite such exalted esteem as the American does himself: ‘Terence is very good but like everyone else he has his flaws, which I can exploit.’ Crawford softens his approach when making this assessment of Khan: ‘I am not taking him lightly. He is a very good boxer who I rate as one of the best in the welterweight division.’

Khan v Crawford is exclusively live on BT Sport Box Office this Saturday. Information at www.bt.com/btsportboxoffice