A highly-rated unbeaten middleweight champion appears to have offered Terence Crawford a chance at becoming a world champion in a sixth weight division.
‘Bud’ Crawford wrote his name into the boxing history books on September 13 when he defeated Mexican great Canelo Alvarez in Las Vegas to capture the undisputed super-middleweight championship in what was his first ever appearance at 168lbs.
The judges scored the bout 116-112, 115-113 and 115-113 all in favour of the unbeaten American, who has all but cemented himself as the greatest fighter of his entire generation by becoming the first fighter in male boxing history to win an undisputed championship in three weight divisions.
With rumours already circulating about what could be next for ‘Bud’, one man that appears to be open to sharing the ring with the pound-for-pound great is unbeaten unified world middleweight champion Janibek Alimkhanuly, who currently holds the IBF and WBO titles at 160lbs.
Posting on social media, the hard-hitting Alimkhanuly brandished himself as a ‘nightmare’ as speculation grows about a potential clash between himself and Crawford.
“Everyone knows who I am. I’m a middleweight nightmare.”
The 32-year-old Kazakhstan-native – who responded to Crawford’s interest in the middleweight division with a handshake emoji to symbolise his willingness to make the fight – remains unbeaten as a professional since he entered the paid ranks back in 2016, defeating all 17 of the opponents he has faced whilst racking up 12 stoppages along the way.
He made his most recent ring appearance back in April when he stopped the previously unbeaten Olympian Anauel Ngamissengue in the fifth round of their clash at the Barys Arena in Astana in a defence of his unified middleweight titles.
