Amir Khan accepted this almighty challenge knowing full well it will be the fight of his life and now the maestro who will be in the opposite corner in Madison Square Garden this Saturday night has spelled out in menacing detail the enormity of the task facing Bolton's favourite sporting son.
Terence Crawford, the undefeated world welterweight champion, has no hesitation in making this pronouncement: 'I am the best boxer in the world - hands down.' How so, we pluck up the temerity to ask, since he figures second to Vasyl Lomachenko in the major rankings of the leading pound-for-pound fighters on the planet?
Bud, as his fellow Americans call him, is usually a man of few words but he offers this crisp and penetrating rationale of his claim to ring supremacy: 'I can box at range or fight close up, whatever's needed.
Terence Crawford has spelled out the danger facing Amir Khan in menacing detail
'I can box equally as well on the back foot or the front foot and I have very good sideways movement. I'm a southpaw who is just as comfortable when switching to orthodox.
'I have hand speed as well as punching power and I am excellent defensively I'm an intelligent fighter who adapts to any opponent.
'I believe I am the complete boxer so, yes, I think I'm the No 1 pound-for-pound.' So much for Lomachenko, then?
Even though he reinforced his claim to the throne with the weekend's four-round demolition of Manchester hero Anthony Crolla, the mandatory but overwhelmed challenger for his WBA and WBO world lightweight titles.
So there you have it, Amir, in an intimidating nutshell.
Yet Khan, much though he respects the champion standing between him and the distinction of become a three-time world champion, does not hold Crawford in quite such exalted esteem as the American does himself: 'Terence is very good but like everyone else he has his flaws, which I can exploit.'
Khan said that he believes Crawford 'has his flaws, which I can exploit'
Crawford softens his approach when making this assessment of
