Terence Crawford is the humiliator and Amir Khan is his latest victim

NEW YORK CITY – Terence Crawford is skinny, almost skinny, with the saw-tooth smile of a child who has just been caught stealing Honey Buns in the dining room. It's a kind of evil smile. He has not made much effort to cultivate kindness towards the fans as the best fighters with big pennies often rub themselves like a lotion, for marketing purposes. Terence Crawford is naughty, and you can see up to the meanness. This is not hidden. You can imagine him as a young man without means, who was chosen and who became mean, and who spent the following years to get involved in the world. The world has discovered to his heart sorrow that this little boy is very good at whipping the ass whenever he wants. And he wants. He is happy and gracious in equal measure. He hops through the ring on his skinny legs like an insect of water moving to the surface of a pond. And then he stings.

Crawford is the best or second best pound-to-pound boxer in the world. With this status can come celebrity, fortune, entourages of groupies, Ferrari and pet tigers. But what seems to fundamentally motivate Terence Crawford, is to whip the ass. He is from Omaha and his nickname is "Bud". There is not an ounce of effort for Hollywood. It simply gives no indication that he really cares about becoming an influential figure of American culture. He gives every indication that he cares a lot not to hit, but to punish and blatantly humiliate anyone who chooses to get in the ring with him.

On Saturday night, this victim was Amir Khan, a world-class fighter with a world-class heart, but whose career was hampered by the fact that he likes to be aggressive and has proved very easy to neutralize. . Khan has a bad chin, as they say, which is not a moral judgment but a simple physiological fact. Fighters unable to absorb very big punches must build their boxing style around this fact. Amir Khan never cared. So, although he is as good as the best welterweight in the world, he has been knocked out several times dramatically. You can see why he does not want to be a defensive fighter. I think that Khan has the best pure hand speed in all boxing, which means that he can get a right punch from the shoulder to the figure faster than anyone else. in the world. His hands are so fast that he often throws a burst of forehands that make him look like a man who rides a bike at high speed, the bipbipbipbip. It stuns people more quickly than powerfully: even if the punch is not extraordinarily hard, it happens before you have the chance to firm up your muscles and let you down. Like all imperfect superheroes, his speed tends to control him more than he controls. When he begins to drop those blows, he can not help jumping and negotiating, his eyes widen with his own abilities. That's when he is in trouble. He is the classic and fearless warrior who dies in the end.

Khan is from Bolton, England, and the British were strong at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night. British fans love to travel, I guess because everywhere is better than home. The good places were full of the same types of people, British and American, among others: young men who spend a lot of money for professional grooming and professional wardrobe, very tight suits without tie, Balmain jackets and white shirts too high number of buttons unbuttoned, pumping arms at the clubbangers, young men on Wall Street or those who claim to have the same lifestyle, the most irritating form of man, full of testosterone and looking for external symbols of manliness. Boxing matches attract these guys, who see the sport as an accessory to wear as a gold chain. Their immodesty is proof that they never had the shit thrown out like the current boxers.

This fight was a very instructive example of the difference between very good boxers and very good boxers. Amir Khan is very good. And you can see why, immediately, when you watch him fight. His speed is clearly overwhelming. His gifts are obvious to the naked eye. Look at him for two rounds and you will understand why he is dangerous.

Terence Crawford, a great fighter, does not present his presents so quickly. As with many great fighters, you may have to watch 10 of his fights to really get an idea of ​​what makes him so good. Yes, he has all the physical attributes of a high-level boxer, but there's no sledgehammer power, blinding speed or flashiness that jumps out of his eyes and says: I'm here, the great gift! Instead, what makes great warriors great is their spirit. They make better decisions than anyone else opposes. That's why they are impossible to beat. This attribute can lead to many different characters among the great fighters, but the attribute itself is universal. For Mayweather, this makes him a genius of the defense who knows how to do just enough to win rounds. for Andre Ward, it made him a chameleon who adapted each plan of battle to his adversary; for Crawford, it allows him to read and react to challenges that would destroy lesser fighters. Crawford is more mean than many other great fighters. It has the additional peculiarity of not only wanting to fight you but hurting you. His use of distance is ethereal. He can reach bigger men, hurt them and go out without a scratch, without looking too much work. He is very cowardly. He holds his gloves in his hands, in the manner of a cake, and only throws a lead shot halfway; as soon as it pulls a reaction shot from his opponent, he jumps that shot the rest of the way, above. It does it constantly, constantly, and it never fails to work. He is the fly fisherman and his opponent is the fish. This lure never stops sounding tasty.

I have no doubt that Amir Khan's coach has spent the past few months telling him to box carefully and not become too aggressive at the beginning of this fight. Despite this, he came out aggressively. That's his nature. In response, he reversed in the first round. Crawford peeked into Khan's right burst and pinned him with a right hand that made him fall. It was such a departure, an instant confirmation of everyone's worst suspicions. Khan seemed to make an effort to restrain himself after that, although it was rather like he was held by force in front of him.

In the third round, Crawford went south. He is one of the few fighters to be as good on both sides. He makes this change for purely psychological reasons, just to give Khan one last thing to think about. He hit him very well from the other side too. You could see Crawford understand Khan in a little more than one round, and once he understood you, his confidence grew, and then he became more daring. And mean. In the fourth round, he was really digging The body shoots him with both hands and pulls out his tongue. When Crawford begins to have his arms in the air, he looks like a man who is attacking you with two long rubber sticks.

In the sixth, he threw a big, strong left uppercut into Khan's nut. Khan doubled in pain, grinned for a few minutes, then gave up. He could not continue. That was it. The rule is this: if you are hit with a low shot, you have five minutes to recover, and if you can not recover, it is a TKO. So here is how Khan lost. On the one hand, he was completely and violently dominated and was probably happy to accept this invitation to end the fight. On the other hand, you have to admit that this part of the rules of boxing leaves something to be desired in terms of fairness because it creates little incentive. do not Hit someone in the ass as hard as you can, just to see if you can blow it up. It's a subject for another day.

In the post-fight interview, Khan was covered in bloody stripes on his shoulders. He was dominated and he knew it. He has widely recognized the skills of Terence Crawford. And what did Terence Crawford say of the man he had just defeated – of the man whose trademark is his great speed? He said: "Benavidez and Gamboa were 10 times faster than him." When he fought against Crawford, Benavidez was wearing a huge knee brace and could barely move his leg.

He's a bad bastard.