Terence Crawford brutally responds to Ilia Topuria’s call-out

Terence Crawford has finally responded to UFC superstar Ilia Topuria’s extraordinary call-out.

Crawford addressed the challenge Wednesday, the 10th of September, when speaking to GIVE ME SPORT and other reporters at the Fontainebleu resort in Las Vegas, ahead of arguably the greatest challenge of his career to date as he, on Saturday, rises two weight classes to fight Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez at the Allegiant Stadium — home of the Las Vegas Raiders.

To fight Canelo, Crawford has bypassed the entire middleweight division, after only fighting once at super welterweight — a decision win over Israil Madrimov. Regardless of result this weekend, there may be few other super-fights out there for Crawford, which makes Topuria’s desire to fight him all the more intriguing.

However, Crawford shut it all down with three brutal words.

Terence Crawford Responds to Ilia Topuria’s Call-Out

Few fighters have soared to the highest echelons of mixed martial arts with the kind of aplomb that Topuria has done. In a three-fight run from early 2024 to mid-2025, Topuria finished a hat-trick of pound-for-pound fighters including Alexander Volkanovski, Max Holloway, and Charles Oliveira, to become a two-weight UFC champion.

There are other fights out there for Topuria, including a huge bout against Islam Makhachev should the dominant Dagestani deal successfully with Jack Della Maddalena in his welterweight debut. And there is a chance UFC boss Dana White hits the brakes on the notion of someone like Topuria crossing over into boxing, even though he has a league to launch in that sport in 2026, with Premium Live Events like Canelo-Crawford to come that year, also.

But that did not stop Topuria from proclaiming that Crawford would get knocked out with a single shot should they ever compete with one another in a boxing.

And, when speaking to GIVE ME SPORT and other reporters mid-week, Crawford finally broke his silenec on the whole situation. In three brutal words, he said:

He continued: “A lot of MMA guys — they drink a lot —so he must have been on that alcohol that day.”

For now, Crawford appears to remain fully focused on his most immediate threat — the one this weekend against Canelo. “Canelo is a first-ballot Hall of Famer, and I think that I’m a first-ballot Hall of Famer. So whether win, lose, or draw, both of us are going into the Hall of Fame, and that’s the ultimate goal at the end of the day, to be named with all the great fighters that came before us, to be inducted into the Hall of Fame for all that we’ve done in the sport of boxing.”

Unbeaten in his career to date, including an all-time great thrashing of Errol Spence Jr. in 2023, Crawford is “1,000% sure” he secures another victory. “I’m more than ready to go out there and perform this Saturday.”