Leo Adam Biga's My Inside Stories

©by Leo Adam Biga

Terence Crawford defeats Felix Diaz to retain his 140-pound world championship and to remain unbeaten.

That’s all well and good, but as Crawford is discovering, life outside the ring comes with consequences, too, and the streets that forged him are still a part of him and can, if he’s not careful, bring him down. His life, like all of ours, is a complicated business. The fact he’s come so far so fast from where he started and where he still has roots is causing him to be in situations that in some cases he’s ill-prepared to deal with. He’s straddling vasty different worlds and trying to keep his equilibrium and integrity in them. It’s a work in progress playing out on a national and international stage. The head-strong Crawford would be well-served to listen to the advice of the wise people who’ve come forward to counsel him. Yes, he needs to be his own man, but he also needs to acknowledge when he’s out of his depth. No one any longer questions his boxing genius. Or his heart for his community and for his family and friends. As for the rest of it, only time will tell.

He is a warrior or soldier, it’s true, and much of that combative spirit is admirable, but it also has its costs. Sometimes, it’s the exact thing you don’t need or want to be. Sometimes, the opposite is called for. Sometimes, it’s more courageous and certainly smarter to back off or to deliberate or to live to fight another day, another time, another round. It’s a quality he shows in the ring. He needs to show that same quality outside the ring, too.

For three perspectives on the forces that have shaped him and that make him the endlessly complex individual he is, you might want to check these out–

https://www.nytimes.com/…/terence-crawford-world-champion-profile.html

https://leoadambiga.com/tag/terence-crawford/‎