Terence Crawford is one of the most successful boxers of all time. But things could have turned out differently: Suffering, pain and anger shaped his life early on – and the decision to break the cycle of violence.
Larimore Avenue in Omaha, Nebraska, was not a place where dreams came true. Here you learned early on: either you hit or you get hit. Someone who was to shape the boxing world grew up in this place. Today, the street even bears his name. But before Larimore Avenue became Terence “Bud” Crawford Street, he had a rocky road ahead of him, marked by a childhood that he wouldn’t wish on anyone.
Toughness as a survival strategy
Father Terence served in the Navy and was rarely at home. “I always cried when he left,” Terence Jr. recalled to ESPN. Mother Debra had to support him and his two sisters Shawntay and Letisha practically on her own. They often lacked basic necessities, and poverty and crime were omnipresent. Phrases like “I’m proud of you” were only familiar to him from hearsay. Instead, there were beatings. With belts, sticks, power cables or branches. Mostly when “Miss Debra” had had too much to drink. “I developed a certain resilience,” Terence is certain today. “There was nothing I wasn’t prepared for.”
Fighting was his constant companion and he regularly got into fights. He was expelled from five schools and was in constant danger of going off the rails …
Text: Marcus Holzer
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