Terence Crawford has set his sights on a return to the ring after he cemented himself as the greatest fighter of his generation back in September.
The 38-year-old from Omaha put on arguably the best performance of his professional career to dethrone Mexican superstar Canelo Alvarez of his undisputed super-middleweight championship at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on September 13.
‘Bud’ etched his name into the boxing history books with that victory over Canelo by becoming the first male fighter to win an undisputed world championship in three divisions, a feat he has already achieved at super-lightweight and welterweight respectively.
As fans continue to debate about what could be next for the pound-for-pound great, there were some rumours that he could potentially be involved in a shock match-up against YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul.
It seems that won’t be the case though, as journalist Chris Mannix has revealed that ‘Bud’ has ruled himself out of the running to face Paul next, and is instead planning his own event in early 2026.
“Terence Crawford is not in the mix to face Jake Paul, sources say. Crawford is targeting his own event in March.”
It is being widely reported that Crawford is interested in making the move down to middleweight next with the view to becoming a world champion in a sixth weight classes.
The 38-year-old has said he has eyes’ on a showdown with the hard-hitting Kazakh star Janibek Alimkhanuly, who currently reigns as the unified WBO and IBF world middleweight champion and takes on WBA champion Erislandy Lara next in December. The winner of that bout seems perfect for ‘Bud’ – a lower profile match-up than Canelo, but a quick route to making more history.
