Terence Crawford ready for Amir Khan fight after strict mum paid kids to beat him up as a child

AMIR KHAN will have only one person to blame if he suffers a severe plastering at the hands of Terence Crawford on April 20 – the WBO welterweight champ’s mum.

Debra Crawford raised 31-year-old ‘Bud’ alone, with an iron fist and leather belt, filling the silky switch hitter with rage until he turned 13 and refused to accept her beatings.

The unorthodox mother would even offer up ten dollar rewards for any child in the neighbourhood to beat her son in a fist fight, forging him in steel.

Incredibly the pair still have a loving relationship, though Debra refuses to say the L word and could never stand kisses and cuddles.

And Omaha ace Crawford concedes his mother’s draconian parenting helped make him the pound-for-pound sensation he is today.

The 34-0 monster and three-weight world champ told SunSport he was inspired by a pair of boxing legends but it was the punishing parent who gave him the spiteful streak Khan should fear.

He said: “Roy Jones Jr and Floyd Mayweather inspired me in boxing. Those are the two. They were the best fighters for me. Looking up to them as a young kid I had a dream.

“When I was a kid we would put on gloves and fighting in the alleys. I used to run around in the area I was growing up.

“Anything I did, whether it was in the ring or not, I wanted to win to prove a point to my mother because she would tell me I’m going to get my ass whooped and that I wasn’t good enough.

“It filled me with rage and every time I stepped in the ring I wanted to win so bad to prove a point to her.

“I was getting kicked out of school and doing bad things but getting whooped just made me immune to pain.

“I was always in trouble so I was always getting whooped but at a point I became numb to it.”

“I’ve been through a lot in my life. That’s the past and I’m looking forward to the future.

Terence Crawford

In a 2018 , Crawford’s mum admitted to her savage parenting style, she said: “If Bud was bad someone would come and tell me and I would go and snatch him up and bring him home and give him an ass-whooping, with a belt.

“Some of the things I said to him back then were to make him become a man and not be afraid of anyone, it was a hard lesson but he had to learn it.

“I told the kids I would give them ten dollars a piece to anyone who could give Bud a whooping but no one could do it. 

“I have never told him ‘I love you’, I never liked it as a kid, I never liked hugs or kisses and it grew with me.

Chess-playing, pitbull loving Crawford does not see his physical traits or boxing skills as the main reasons for his success.

The psychological onslaught he faced from his mum growing up made his resilience and numbness to pain the best tools in his arsenal.

“IT FILLED ME WITH RAGE”

And that’s why he knows that even if 32-year-old Khan can roll back the years and pull-off a shock performance, he will have the fortitude to handle it.

He said: “I think mental toughness is something that you can’t teach anybody.

“When the going gets rough, you’ve got to get in there straight force, stick with the game plan and make sure you get the job done no matter what.

“It shouldn’t break you – you have to have that mental power.

“I’ve been through a lot in my life. That’s the past and I’m looking forward to the future. I don’t think about the past.

“Yes, I’ve become the man I am today by overcoming the obstacles in my life but I try not to bring up the past.”

Crawford, with 25 KO wins on his record, is expected to steam through Team GB’s 2004 silver medalist in New York.

And the dedicated father of five is banking on keeping his perfect record intact to cement his place in the pantheon of greats.

He said: “It’s very important for me to stay undefeated because I perceive it as a legacy is on the line.

“Look at Rocky Marciano, Mayweather, both undefeated. I’m interested in having a legacy too.”