Ben Askren warns Ilia Topuria may be “barking up the wrong tree” with Terence Crawford callout

Ben Askren feels Ilia Topuria's callout of Terence Crawford is a step too far. 'El Matador' has been taking sly digs at the boxing great for some time, and earlier this week, he sent a direct challenge to the newly crowned undisputed super-middleweight champion.

The UFC lightweight king has noted his desire to box 'Bud' on several occasions. Earlier this month, he posted a question on social media asking fans who they thought would win in a fight.

The Georgian-born Spaniard followed it up, claiming that he'd put the world champion boxer to sleep with one punch were they ever to meet in the squared circle.

In the lead-up to his fight against Canelo Alvarez, 'Bud' labeled Topuria's comments a drunken delusion. To make matters worse, Crawford used 'Cancion Del Mariachi' by Antonio Banderas for his ring walk for the Alvarez fight, a song which 'El Matador' also uses.

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This triggered a fiery response from 'El Matador', who took aim at both Crawford and Alvarez, writing:

"First, he calls me drunk… then he walks out to MY song. Crawford, whenever you want, I’ll teach you how to dance that mariachi in the ring. And Canelo, I’ll save you a round after him."

Askren believes that while Topuria is one of the best MMA fighters on the planet, he might be taking a step too far by challenging the generational boxer. Reacting to 'El Matador's' comments, he wrote:

"I think Topuria is one of the best P4P in MMA, but he may be barking up the wrong tree here."

Check out Ben Askren's response to Ilia Topuria's callout to Terence Crawford below:

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Ilia Topuria says he can be a boxing world champion in six months

Ilia Topuria is arguably the best boxer in the UFC. 'El Matador' holds knockout wins over credible strikers, including Max Holloway and Alexander Volkanovski, but is he on the same level as other seasoned boxers? Topuria appears to believe so.

During a recent Kick stream with the Nelk Boys, the 28-year-old claimed that six months of pure boxing training was all he needed to capture a world title in the sweet science:

"So, the thing is that I really think that I could be the world champion in boxing, also. If they give me six months of preparation of full boxing training camp."

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Edited by Ujwal Jain