Every parent has their own methods and customs for how they want to raise their child. However, not every parenting approach is accepted by the world. Some people may think parents spoil their children too much, while others might believe people aren’t showing their child enough love.
The latter is what some people feel about Terence “Bud” Crawford’s mother. Following his unanimous-decision victory over Canelo Alvarez on the evening of Sept. 13, Crawford won the title to become an undisputed champion in three weight classes. Since then, more attention has been drawn to the 37-year-old after the Netflix-televised fight, and many on social media are digging into his past. On Sept. 15, The Neighborhood Talk shared a clip from Crawford’s 2018 interview with ESPN where he divulged details about his upbringing and journey into boxing. The clip exposed how his mother parented him, and the disclosure resulted in her receiving some backlash.
The video starts with ESPN boxing analyst Mark Kriegel examining the complicated relationship between Crawford and his mother, Debbie.
While sitting down with Debbie, Kriegel said, “You kept telling him, ‘You’re never going to amount to anything.’ Did you really believe that?”
“Some things that I said to him, I wanted him to be a man. Don’t be afraid of nobody,” she responded with an unapologetic tone.
Debbie raised Crawford along with his two siblings in Omaha, Nebraska, while their father, Terence Crawford Sr., was away in the Navy.
Crawford said his mother’s tough parenting lit a fire in him. “It filled me with rage and every time I stepped foot in the ring or anything I ever did I just wanted to win so bad so I can prove a point to her.”
When Debbie was asked how Crawford did, she reflected on his childhood and said, “He did good, because he was around here beating up everybody in the neighborhood.”
And Debbie said she had a role in those neighborhood fights. She said, “I paid the kids. I said if y’all can whup Bud I’ll give y’all $10 a piece. Couldn’t none of them whup him.”
Crawford had a troubled childhood. Along with getting into fights, he also got kicked out of five schools. But sometimes his behavior resulted in physical discipline by his already no-nonsense mother at home. For him, he now sees his spankings as something that helped him in the ring after his introduction to the sport of boxing at 7.
“I was getting kicked out of school and doing bad things. But I think getting whupped made me immune to pain,” he told ESPN. “I was always getting in trouble, so I was always getting a whupping for something. So at a point in time it just became numb to me.”
Finally, at age 13, Crawford declared to his mother that she would not spank him anymore and took the belt away from her.
Despite being angry with the way Debbie spoke to him, Crawford said that didn’t stop him from wanting to gain her approval.
He said, “When she always telling you, ‘You gone lose’ or ‘You not good enough’ or ‘You gon get your a– kicked’ or things like that it’s like, ‘OK. When I win this tournament she gon’ say, congratulations or good job or I’m proud of you. But it never happened.”
Debbie isn’t much of an affectionate person. For her, “love” is not a word she cares to use.
“I grew up not liking the word. Why? I don’t know,” she said. “Never liked hugs growing up as a kid. I never liked nobody to kiss me growing up as a kid and it just grew with me as I got older.”
Crawford said, “She hate that word. She say ‘Love is pain.’ Her support was in a different type of way. It was in a negative way, but when I got older I noticed it was her negative way that pushed me to be great.
Fans reacted to Crawford’s mom on The Neighborhood Talk’s page.
One person said, “That’s not the way to raise a child. Luckily he came out on the other side. Good for him.”
Someone else wrote, “It’s sad how proud she is of being toxic.”
A third person offered a reason for Debbie’s rough parenting style. They said, “She went through trauma that hardened her, you can tell !”
A fourth said, “This is heartbreaking! I feel sorry for him and his mom because hurt people, hurt people!”
As for if Debbie believes she had a hand in making Crawford into the champion boxer he is today, she’s leaving him with all the credit.
She said, “He made himself champion. I’m just proud of him because he’s my son.”
With Crawford’s recent incredible win over his former world champion opponent, questions are brewing on whether he’ll be retiring soon, being that he’s turning 38 later this month.
But during his Sept. 15 appearance on “The Ariel Helwani Show,” Crawford said that it’s “still up in the air.”
He said, “You know, I don’t want to say that it is. And if it ain’t I don’t want to say that it is.”
Great Job J. Jones & the Team @ Atlanta Black Star Source link for sharing this story.
