The World Boxing Council (WBC) has given Terence Crawford their ‘Champion in Recess ‘ tag for his 147-lb belt as he moves up to 154 to take on WBA champion Israil Madrimov on August 3rd.
WBC is allowing Crawford to hold onto the welterweight title with their organization, albeit as a ‘Champion in Recess,’ giving him the choice of returning to the division in the future to get an immediate title shot.
It’s a convenient tag to be given to the 36-year-old Crawford because it allows him to return to the 147-lb division to fight for his old WBC belt if someone popular and beatable is holding onto the belt. Read: Devin Haney. Crawford probably ain’t coming back if Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis is the one who gets his hands on the WBC welterweight title.
Crawford’s Ambitious Three-Belt Plan
If Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs) is victorious against WBA junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov, and he might not be, given his age and rarity he fights, he will also capture the WBO interim belt.
Crawford-Madrimov is also a WBC 154-lb title eliminator. The winner of the fight will be the mandatory challenger for the winner of the October match between WBC/WBO junior middleweight champion Sebastian ‘The Towering Inferno’ Fundora and Errol Spence Jr.
In Crawford’s perfect world, he’ll beat Madrimov to pick up the WBA 154-lb title and the WBO interim strap, then challenge the Fundora vs. Spence winner for the WBC/WBO titles.
If Crawford wins those two fights, he would be a three-belt champion at 154, holding the WBA, WBC & WBO junior middleweight titles and would only need the IBF strap to become the undisputed champion in a third weight class. The IBF 154-lb title is held by Bakhram Murtazaliev.
Madrimov: The Potential Derailer
It may sound easy to some boxing fans for Crawford to quickly scoop up three belts at 154 and then become undisputed by picking up the IBF strap. That’s not the case. Madrimov (10-0, 7 KOs) is a big puncher, and he’s in his prime at 29, fighting in a weight class that Crawford has never competed in.
Father Time is undefeated, and Crawford has had a long career, fights only once a year, and is turning 37 in September. Madrimov could be a step too far for Crawford, who may finally pay the price for treating the sport as a part-time gig to replenish his bank account every year.
Famous fighters from the past got away with fighting once a year for a while, but it always got caught up to them.
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