Terence Crawford has been ordered to face WBO and WBC Super-Welterweight Champion Sebastian Fundora.
Fundora won the belts in a bloody battle against Tim Tszyu back in March. Although it was made clear he would be made to defend against the winner of Crawford’s debut in the division against Israil Madrimov, he had instead been pursuing a fight with Errol Spence Jr – the man ‘Bud’ beat to become undisputed one division down.
Post-Madrimov fight, Crawford has made it clear that his target is a fight against unified super-middleweight champion Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, although he has said Fundora would be second choice.
Canelo has said he will take the bout if the money is right, but was recently accused by Riyadh Season’s Turki Alalshikh of only looking for ‘show fights’ because he was afraid of certain challenges.
Reacting to the Fundora news via Boxing Scene, Alvarez said the fight order had no bearing on a potential match-up between himself and Crawford – a statement many will feel shows him coming round to the idea.
“I don’t think so. I’m not saying that fight can’t happen. That order doesn’t matter.”
The Mexican has made it clear that he will not enter talks with anyone – be that Crawford or the likes of David Benavidez – until his unified title defence against Edgar Berlanga is over with on September 14. Fundora’s promoter, Sampson Lewkowicz, expects Crawford’s team to hold off until then, too.
It now remains to be seen if ‘Bud’ fancies the chance to add two more belts to his collection in the meantime before again pursuing Canelo midway through 2025. Many in the sport feel that if he doesn’t land the fight against the Mexican then he will retire.
