After years of grinding and proving himself in the sport, Terence Crawford is finally being given his flowers now that he has retired, considered to be amongst boxing’s all-time greats. Now, Conor Benn has shared whether he believes the Omaha-born switch-hitter would have been able to hand Floyd Mayweather his first career defeat.

Crawford became the first post-war boxer to claim the undisputed world title in three separate weight divisions when he dethroned Canelo Alvarez last September, simultaneously extending his professional record to 42-0 and becoming a five-division world champion.

With his legacy cemented, ‘Bud’ then hung up the gloves at the age of 38 years old, retiring with an undefeated record and drawing comparisons to Mayweather, who famously walked away from the sport with a 50-0 record and as a four-weight world champion.

Speaking with Daily Mail Sport, Conor Benn admitted that he would favour Crawford, when asked for his thoughts on how a fantasy fight between Crawford and ‘TBE’ would play out, if they were to meet in their primes.

Benn then went on to say that Crawford would also overcome fellow legends, Julio Cesar Chavez, Pernell Whitaker and Roberto Duran – making the American one of boxing’s best pound-for-pound fighters of all time, in the eyes of ‘The Destroyer’.

In September, Benn has the chance to fight for one of Crawford’s old belts, as he challenges Ryan Garcia for the WBC welterweight world crown atop a blockbuster Las Vegas card, that is also expected to feature cruiserweight, Jai Opetaia.