Crawford Rules Out 154 Return After Canelo Fight

Terence Crawford could very well retire after the Canelo Alvarez fight, as he dismissed a move back down to junior middleweight.

Crawford is a four-weight world champion, having defeated Israil Madrimov in his previous fight. He won a decision to secure the WBA Junior Middleweight Title. Crawford is a two-weight undisputed champion, having won all the belts at 140 and 147 pounds, making him one of the best fighters of his era. He will face the biggest challenge of his career by jumping up two weight classes from 154 to 168 pounds to take on Canelo in September. 

Canelo will box William Scull in May, as a win makes him undisputed at 168 once again. That means a Canelo-Crawford fight would be for undisputed, giving Crawford the opportunity to make history by becoming the first man in the four-belt era to be undisputed in three weight classes. Jermell Charlo tried to become undisputed at 168 by moving up 154 pounds. He failed to trouble Canelo, who won a unanimous decision. Since then, Charlo has not had a boxing fight. 

Crawford’s Issue

There is a perception that it may be too difficult for him to move back down from 168 to 154 pounds. Previous fighters have shown they were not the same once they moved up and tried to come back down. Roy Jones Jr. defeated John Ruiz to become the WBA Heavyweight Champion. He then moved back down to light heavyweight but was no longer the same boxer. Crawford has dismissed moving back down to 154 pounds, meaning he will not chase undisputed at junior middleweight.

He dismissed the calibre of the opposition of the weight class. Sebastian Fundora, who is the WBC and WBO Junior Middleweight Champion, has already been knocked out. Meanwhile, the IBF Junior Middleweight Champion, Bakhram Murtazaliev, is not a big name. Tim Tsyzu, who was once a feared fighter, has lost his last two bouts.

Crawford Reacts

Tszyu no longer holds any belts, making that a less appealing fight. There is also a danger of fighters moving back down in weight at the late end of their careers. Crawford is 37 years old, meaning a Canelo fight could be his last. He could go down as one of the biggest fighters ever to grace the sport of boxing, or even if he were to come out second best, Crawford will no doubt secure a huge purse.

“Not at all, because I’m looking at the landscape of the 154-lb division. There are a lot of great fighters, but there are not a lot of defining fights at 154. There’s not a lot of legacy fights at 154. When I look at the landscape at 154. Bakhram. People are going to say, ‘Who is Bakhram?’ He knocked out Tim Tszyu, who already had a loss. Fundora has already been knocked out. Throughout my career, people have taken credit away from me to try and diminish my accomplishments,” Crawford said 

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