Former Welterweight world champion Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford wants to jump three weight classes for a big payday with Super Middleweight champion Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez in early 2025.
First, Crawford, 40-0, will go up one division, taking the less experienced WBA Super Welterweight champion Israil ‘The Dream’ Madrimov, 10-0-1, on August 3rd at BMO Stadium, Los Angeles, California. The WBO Interim title is also at stake.
Alvarez (61-2-2, 39 KOs) has only fought once this year, defeating previously unbeaten Jaime Munguia (43-1, 34 KOs) by a twelve-round unanimous decision on May. 4th
Keeping up with his routine of fighting twice yearly, Canelo will look for another fight in September before the year ends. For his part, Crawford hasn’t fought twice a year since 2019 and is fortunate he wasn’t stripped of all his welterweight titles. He has two belts remaining of his four.
There are those like this writer who felt Crawford wasn’t interested in fighting IBF World Welterweight champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis (32-0, 29 KOs).
When Crawford offered Ennis a title shot in the past, he wasn’t mature enough at the time and would have taken a small purse, unlike a champion, and with the experience, he would have asked for it now. If the Crawford-Ennis fight happened now, it would be a 50-50 odds match.
Is Crawford moving up in weight too high like some former great champions in the past have done, like two-division world champion ‘Sugar’ Ray Robinson, then 132-2-2, did in seeking a third division title losing to the ‘heat’ at 108 degrees and Joey Maxim, 78-18-4 on June 25, 1952. Ahead on all scorecards, Robinson could have lost the final two rounds and still won the title.
Welterweight champion Cuban Jose ‘Mantequilla’ Napoles, 77-5, challenged middleweight champion Carlos Monzon, 81-3-9, being stopped after six rounds.
Another two-division champion in Alexis ‘Thin Man’ Arguello, 74-6, lost to Super Lightweight champion Aaron ‘Hawk’ Pryor, 33-0, in ten rounds, who some fans felt got a little help from Pryor that his trainer Panama Lewis got when he said ‘no, the other bottle’ to his second that must have had some mixture to give him more energy to defeat Arguello.
How many light heavyweight champions failed before Michael ‘Jinx’ Spinks defeated heavyweight champion Larry ‘The Easton Assassin’ Holmes? Two that come to mind in Bob Foster, 41-4, not once but twice losing to heavyweight champion ‘Smokin’ Joe Frazier, 25-0, and Muhammad Ali, 39-1, both by stoppage.
Then there was Archie ‘Old Mongoose’ Moore, 149-19-8, losing twice to Rocky Marciano, 48-0, and for the vacant title against Floyd Patterson, 30-1.
I’m sure our readers will have some of their own choices regarding a boxer who is pursuing a career one division too high, like Crawford.
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