TERENCE CRAWFORD is an exceptional boxer – and his road to becoming one is equally unique.

Crawford was born and raised in Omaha – the biggest city in Nebraska – by his mom Debbie, dad Terence Sr and sisters Latisha and Shawntay.

Black and white photo of a young boy wearing boxing gloves.
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A young Terence Crawford in trainingCredit: @tbudcrawford

Black and white photo of a young boxer.
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He was always fighting as a youngesterCredit: @tbudcrawford

Boxing match winner with referee and opponent.
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He was a champion of the amateursCredit: @tbudcrawford
The boxing star, by his own admission, misbehaved and got himself chucked out of FIVE schools growing up.

And while that robbed him of his education, it earned him street cred as a feared fighter not to be messed with.

“Well, I just always had that urge to fight,” Crawford told Piers Morgan.

“When someone disrespects me, I had a bad temper. I was a hot-head as a kid.

“Growing up, people talk about you and they talk about your clothes, they talk about your shoes, they talk about how dark you is and things like that.

“For me, it was like I didn’t have the jokes to make everybody laugh so I just beat people up.

“That’s how people started noticing me like, ‘Oh man, leave him alone. He gonna beat you up.’”

Crawford’s strict mom was tough on him – literally.

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“I used to get whoopings because I was bad. It’s a part of discipline,” he said.

“Ain’t nothing wrong with disciplining your kids when they’re not following directions and when they’re not listening.

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“I think we all need to discipline our kids, it’s in the bible to discipline our kids.”

Crawford’s mom Debbie took unusual measures to toughen up her son – including paying bullies to try and beat him up.

“I think it was more a competitive nature in her,” he explained.

“Her brother was a boxer, her dad was a boxer, my dad’s dad was a boxer, my uncles were boxers.

“So she came from a boxing family, she grew up in the boxing gym.

“So me being a little bad kid running around not listening, she’d be like, ‘Alright, let me see how bad you is. I’m gonna pay this little kid see if he can whoop you.’

“It was things like that, but I’d whoop them every time.”

“I said, ‘If y’all can whoop Bud, I’ll give y’all $10 a piece,” Crawford’s mom Debbie told ESPN’s Mark Kriegel.

Photo of a man and woman posing for a photo together.
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Crawford’s mom Debbie would pay bullies to try fight her son

Terence Crawford hugging his mother, Debbie.
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Crawford says it’s what moulded him into the fighter he is todayCredit: Instagram @tbudcrawford
 

“None of them could whoop him. He was 13 when he said, ‘Mom, you’re not going to whoop me no more.’ And he took the belt from me.”

Crawford – a champion in FOUR divisions – has made a career of trying to convince the three ringside judges that he is better than his opponent.

But perhaps proving it to his own mom was more important to him.

“I can remember, if you didn’t fight you’d come home and get in trouble for not defending yourself,” Crawford said.

“And if you did fight and your mom was there and got whooped, then you go home and get another whooping.

“So you better not lose in front of your mom.  So those were the times where I come from.

“Now you see kids and people don’t fight no more, they shoot and stab and pick up weapons. It’s not like the times when I grew up.”

The unorthodox upbringing moulded Crawford into a world-class fighter – turning professional in 2008 as a champion of the amateur code.

Boxer holding multiple championship belts.
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Crawford got shot when he was just 4-0Credit: @terencecrawford

Man sitting on the floor with several championship belts.
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But he survived after the bullet ricochetedCredit: @terencecrawford

Photo of a young man sitting on steps.
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He used it as a learning curve to change his life aroundCredit: @terencecrawford
But his career in the paid ranks failed to take off in the early stages, forced to fight in small venues across the country.

And only four bouts in, not only did his career almost come crashing down but so did his whole life after getting shot in the street.

“That’s past me now and that type of life that I was living I’m no longer living now,” he said. “It was wrong place at the wrong time.”

Crawford had gone out to shoot dice and earn some extra cash when a stray bullet had missed its intended target, hitting the boxer in the back of the head while in his car.

Fortunately the bullet changed direction after ricocheting off the rear of his windscreen – taking the impact away.

It was a near-miss for Crawford – who believes he survived for a reason.

“That’s exactly what it was. And that’s why I’m here because it’s destiny,” he said.

Me being a little bad kid running around not listening, she’d be like, ‘Alright, let me see how bad you is. I’m gonna pay this little kid see if he can whoop you.’

Terence Crawford on his mom paying bullies to fight him

“I changed my life around and gave my life to the sport of boxing. And everything else is history.”

Soon after the frightening incident, Crawford’s boxing career took off and he signed with Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum in 2011.

Under Arum’s guidance, he became one of the sport’s pound-for-pound stars, winning world titles from lightweight to welterweight.

Cawford became such a hero in his hometown that the street he was was raised in – and still lives at – was re-named after him in August 2018.

Located on the 33rd to 31st Avenue on Larimore, it was changed to Terence “Bud” Crawford St.

“It meant a lot. Because, my mom still lives on that street, my cousin, my sisters, I have a house that I live on in that street,” the father-of-eight said.

“My mom, she’s very happy and supportive and she’s proud of her baby boy.”

Man wearing a leopard-print shirt and gold chain, standing on a street.
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Crawford has a street named after him in Omaha

Street signs for Larimore Av and Terence "Bud" Crawford St.
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He still lives there to this day
Crawford, 37, left Arum in 2021 and two years later beat his arch rival Errol Spence Jr.

Last August, he moved up to the 154lb division to beat Israil Madrimov, 30, for the WBA title.

But his undefeated 41-0 record faces its biggest threat on Saturday in Las Vegas when he steps up to super-middleweight to take on Canelo Alvarez.

Not only are the undisputed 168lb belts on the line for Crawford – but so is the right to call himself one of the all-time greats.

“I can’t imagine getting beat. That’s not something I think about. I never like to think about losing,” Crawford said.

“It comes to each and every one of our minds as fighters, ‘What if?’ But that’s why we train so hard so that it deteriorates.

“A win against Canelo Alvarez, what it would do to my career? It would put me on Mount Rushmore.