Terence Crawford made a strong case for being the greatest fighter of his generation with a historic victory over Canelo Alvarez last weekend.
The 37-year-old Omaha-native defeated the Mexican icon via unanimous decision to capture the undisputed super-middleweight championship at a packed out Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada.
In what has been regarded as the best performance of his professional career to date, ‘Bud’ Crawford wrote his name into the boxing history books once again by becoming the first male fighter in the modern era to win an undisputed championship in three weight classes.
The three judges at ringside scored the bout 115-113, 115-113 and 116-112 all in favour of the American pound-for-pound great, and it has been suggested by some that the cards should have been a lot wider.
With rumours already circulating about what could be next for ‘Bud’ after this monumental victory, the 37-year-old has ruled out one fight in particular.
Speaking in the post-fight press conference, Crawford was asked if there was any chance of him dropping back down to 154lbs and potentially going on to face fellow countryman Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis.
“No. I ain’t going down to 154.”
‘Bud’ did make a brief appearance at super-welterweight in August 2024 when he defeated Uzbek star Israil Madrimov via unanimous decision to capture the WBA world title. He had previously floated the idea of moving back down to become undisputed, however has clearly felt too good at the weight to drop significantly.
‘Boots’ Ennis recently announced he will begin his campaign at 154lbs later this year having previously reigned as the unified WBA and IBF welterweight champion. The 27-year-old from Philadelphia is set to face Portugal’s Uisma Lima in a non-title bout on October 11.
Though an intriguing match-up, it looks unlikely that Crawford and ‘Boots’ will ever meet inside the ropes, unless the latter decides to quickly move up another division.
As for Crawford, he hinted that he may be tempted to make a move to middleweight next, and one of the world champions at 160lbs has already responded.
