Terence Crawford has addressed accusations that he swerved a world champion, saying he would have won by knockout if they ever locked horns.

The former three-division undisputed king was never one to shy away from a formidable challenge, hence why he stepped up two weight classes to face Canelo Alvarez.

Despite being a sizable underdog, Crawford was able to dethrone the Mexican last September, collecting all four major super-middleweight belts with a unanimous decision victory.

Even before that, ‘Bud’ had cemented himself as one of the sport’s flagship fighters by scoring a ninth-round finish over Errol Spence Jr in 2023.

Yet somehow, before announcing his retirement as an unbeaten five-division world champion in December, Crawford was accused by Jaron Ennis of ducking their potential fight.

This was back when ‘Boots’ had become the mandatory challenger to Crawford, who would ultimately vacate his welterweight titles and dethrone Israil Madrimov at 154lbs.

Ennis, in turn, was upgraded from ‘interim’ to full world champion, before eventually unifying the IBF and WBA titles against Eimantas Stanionis in April 2025.

During this time, though, the American was vocal in his belief that Crawford had actively avoided him, when in reality the then-unbeaten contender represented a high-risk, low-reward option.

In response, the now-retired Crawford has told King Gillie that, if they had collided, their welterweight contest would have ended in one-sided fashion.

“Ya’ll wanted me to end Boots’ career before it started. I would have knocked him the f*** out. Stop playing with me.

“He wasn’t ready yet. He needed a couple more fights, they said.”

Now campaigning at 154lbs, ‘Boots’ looks to dethrone unified world champion Xander Zayas when they square off at the Barclays Center, Brooklyn, on June 27.