Leo Adam Biga's My Inside Stories

HOMETOWN HERO TERENCE CRAWFORD ON VERGE OF GREATNESS –

AND BECOMING BOXING’S NEXT SUPERSTAR

When hometown hero and reigning WBO world junior welterweight champion Terence Crawford takes care of business as expected against challenger Dierry Jean Saturday night (Oct. 24) at the CenturyLink, everything then opens up for him. The scuttlebutt is that he would fight Manny Pacquiao or, should he come out of retirement, Floyd Mayweather, in which case Terence would be fighting for the chance to be boxing’s next great superstar. TopRank has already indicated they are looking to hand off the baton of King of Boxing to the right candidate and they are clearly grooming Terence to be that guy.

Anyone who knows Terence understands that he has been preparing for this nearly all his life. Nothing fazes him because he’s come through a lot to get here and ever since getting shot in the head back in 2008 he’s made boxing, outside of family, his singular focus. And now that he’s already gotten this far there is no one and nothing that he will let stand in his way, not if he has anything to say or do about it.

In a way, he really doesn’t have anything left to prove, other than showing that he truly belongs among the pantheon of contemporary and perhaps even all-time boxing greats. Only time will tell there. But it does appear he will get his opportunity to make his mark and knowing him he will take full advantage of it.

I have written before how Terence is in a long line of outstanding athletes to come out of North Omaha to do great things at high levels. In terms of boxers from here, he stands alone, with nobody really even close. Among all athletes from North O, I argue that he is the most accomplished in his sport since Bob Gibson dominated for the St. Louis Cardinals in the late 1960s-early 1970s. A case could be made for Gale Sayers as well. In terms of the most beloved, Bud’s only close competition is Bob Boozer, Johnny Rodgers and Ahman Green, and maybe Maurtice Ivy.

It has been fascinating to see how in such a short period of time, ever since he won his first title as a lightweight in 2014 and subsequently defended that title twice in Omaha before huge crowds, he has won over such a large cross-section of folks. He has single-handedly resurrected the sport of boxing here and put this town on the national and international boxing map, thus giving this place one more thing to take pride in. And at 28 he may be the best known living Nebraskan now outside of Warren Buffett and Alexander Payne.

Omaha has gotten behind him and his passion for his hometown and for his North O community in a way that I don’t think anyone could have predicted. It’s very heartwarming to see, He already had a strong team around him in his Team Crawford crew of managers, coaches and trainers and now a whole team of advisers has come on board to help guide him and protect his earnings and to help him realize his vision for the B&B Boxing Academy. At Wednesday’s meet-up down at the gym, there was an incredibly diverse mix of people present – B&B members, neighborhood residents, family, friends, movers and shakers and media, of course. Lots and lots of media.

The Omaha World-Herald has reported about Terence’s heart for community and others and those are threads I’ve been writing about for some time. I have helped frame the B&B Boxing Academy story and I traveled with Terence and his close friend and former teacher, Jamie Fox Nollette to Uganda and Rwanda, Africa to see first-hand his curiosity about and concern for people in need in the Motherland. I hope to follow more of his journey as time goes by.

Read my extensive reporting and writing about Terence at-

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

I will be covering his fight against Jean and so look for my impressions about that fight and many more things about Terence and his ever evolving story in future posts and articles.