So, that was a fun weekend, no?

Amid the rare simultaneous glee provided to a football fan who supports both the University of Tennessee (Go Big Orange!) and the New York Jets (J-E-T-S, JETS, JETS, JETS!), the wide-ranging palette of boxing available via TV and live stream was worth celebrating as well.

Here’s a few things I’ve decided now that Tuesday morning has arrived:

Devin Haney is the Real Deal: OK, this isn’t exactly breaking news for the many fight-game geniuses living among us. But as I conceded while making last week’s picks, I wasn’t as warm for the guy as a lot of people have been. That’s changed now.

Because I was dreading another coma-inducing jab, grab and clinch fest along the lines of what Haney had delivered against George Kambosos Jr. the first time around, I was pleasantly surprised to see the “Dream” concentrating more on offense against his game, but surely outgunned foe.

I’d have been a tick more impressed had he stepped full on the gas and gotten the ex-champ out of there, but the level to which he dominated nearly all of the 12 rounds was impressive enough even without a stoppage. It says here that he beats a guy like Gervonta Davis and gives Ryan Garcia all he wants and then some if that’s the direction either decides to go.

Fights with Vasyl Lomachenko and Shakur Stevenson may not be so fun given their tactical approaches, so I’m hoping Haney chooses something else so I can keep my buzz going for at least one more.

Regardless, I’ve got to give the man credit for converting me.

Deontay Wilder Can Punch Hard: Speaking of things that aren’t breaking news, the revelation that the “Bronze Bomber” can punch fits nicely here. And though I still don’t believe a KO of Robert Helenius is worthy of a parade – the idea that Wilder has returned to the stage intrigues even an old “hater” like me.

I’ll just congratulate Wilder on his win, perhaps compile some interview questions to be asked in disguise and look forward to seeing him in with an opponent who’ll give a true indication of his standing among the heavyweights.

Can Andy Ruiz be that guy? I don’t know but count me among those wanting to find out.

Claressa Shields is a Trailblazer: I proudly beat my chest and include myself among those who’ve been on the women’s boxing bandwagon for a while. Maybe not all the way back to the Christy Martin days – though I recommend her book as a very good read – but at least to the early 2000s when it was all about Holly Holm on a global stage, and, closer to home, my old pal Chevelle Hallback.

I’m not sure anyone smiled wider when Holm jumped to the cage and kicked Ronda Rousey squarely in the aura, and I was like a happy dad last spring when Amanda Serrano and Katie Taylor delivered a full-on barrier-breaking classic for the folks at Madison Square Garden.

So Shields has long been someone whose exploits I’ve admired, from the dual Olympic titles all the way through the multiple championship mountains she’s climbed as a professional.

Heading to England to take down amateur nemesis Savannah Marshall was the latest chapter in a very compelling story, and it added another layer to a claim the “GWOAT” made when I chatted her up a few weeks before the original fight date with Marshall in early September.

“I just think out of everybody that I’ve taken the most risk,” she said. “To go from 168 to 160 to 154, to fight the best girls that they’ve got, to fight the No. 1’s, to fight the No. 2’s and really challenge myself to lose that weight when I hadn’t fought at 150-anything since I was 15 years old. 

“I think me doing that, me bringing trash talk back to women’s boxing, me bringing that aggression and that passion to where people understand, ‘Yeah, it’s a boxing match, but this is my life.’ That’s what sets me apart.”

Crawford is the Best of the Best: Somewhere between the Tennessee afterglow and the J-E-T-S pre-game festivities, I decided to play the same game that so many of my writing colleagues and so many more of the aforementioned Twitter experts play on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.

I made my very own pound-for-pound list.

And the more I looked at names and compared accomplishments and split competitive hairs between one guy and another, the more I came to one inarguable (at least in my view) conclusion:

Terence Crawford is the best fighter in the world.

Why? Because he checks all the boxes.

He's been spectacular over a prolonged stretch of years. He's beaten a series of high-quality foes. He's climbed through multiple weight classes. And he's still hungry for accomplishment.

He was a belt-holder at 135 pounds after his 23rd pro fight and has won 15 more since while racking up title defenses and additional championships at 140 and 147 pounds, ending 13 of 16 title bouts inside the scheduled distance – including all six at welterweight.

Crawford became the first man to stop ex-WBC champ Shawn Porter (TKO 10) in his most recent fight last November, and he's waiting patiently for the divisional showdown with the also-unbeaten Errol Spence Jr. that’ll define this generation of 147-pounders.

His in-ring ferocity along with an ability to subtly switch from left- to right-handed stances and back during a fight set him apart from his contemporaries, and he shows no real signs of slowing down or losing his hunger, even at age 35.

Great fighters abound. But no one else’s resume compares.

* * * * * * * * * * 

This week’s title-fight schedule: 

No title fights scheduled.

Last week's picks: 1-0 (WIN: Haney) 

2022 picks record: 31-12 (72.1 percent) 

Overall picks record: 1,240-404 (75.4 percent) 

NOTE: Fights previewed are only those involving a sanctioning body's full-fledged title-holder – no interim, diamond, silver, etc. Fights for WBA "world championships" are only included if no "super champion" exists in the weight class. 

Lyle Fitzsimmons has covered professional boxing since 1995 and written a weekly column for Boxing Scene since 2008. He is a full voting member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Reach him at fitzbitz@msn.com or follow him on Twitter – @fitzbitz.