Pound-for-pound great Terence Crawford was on the verge of finalising a deal for his next ring appearance before being replaced by a surprise opponent at the last minute.
The 38-year-old from Nebraska cemented himself as arguably the greatest fighter of his generation on September 13 when he defeated Canelo Alvarez at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas to capture the undisputed super-middleweight champion.
Craword entered the boxing history books once again with that victory over the Mexican superstar, becoming the first male fighter in boxing history to win an undisputed world championship in three separate divisions, after already accomplishing it at 140lbs and 147lbs.
Whilst he had been enjoying some well deserved down-time following his win over Canelo, it had been speculated that ‘Bud’ was approached to face Jake Paul next, an offer that he reportedly accepted.
As revealed by MVP’s Nakisa Bidarian on TMZ, Crawford was ‘one of 30 fighters’ that accepted an offer to face the YouTuber-turned-boxer next, before it was decided that Paul would be matched up with Anthony Joshua instead.
“There were probably 30 fighters who accepted. AJ being one of them, Terence Crawford being another. AJ is the one that we came to an agreement on. Crawford was 100% in.”
Paul is set to face two-time unified heavyweight champion Joshua over eight three-minute rounds at the Kaseya Center in Miami on Friday December 19.
‘Bud’ is now expected to turn his attention to securing a potential showdown with unified world middleweight champion Janibek Alimkhanuly, as he looks to edge towards becoming a world champion in a sixth weight class.
