Terence Crawford joins distinguished company of four-division titleholders

Terence Crawford proved why he is one of – if not the – greatest pound-for-pound fighters in the world after winning a world title in a fourth division.

Crawford secured a unanimous decision victory over Israil Madrimov to steal his junior middleweight title Saturday at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles, putting the Omaha, Nebraska-born fighter in the league of greats who have won belts in four different weight classes.

Crawford won his first title in 2014 when he recorded a 12-round unanimous decision over Ricky Burns. A year later, he moved up to 140 pounds to knock out Thomas Dulorme in a junior welterweight title showdown.

After becoming an undisputed champion at junior welterweight three years later, Crawford jumped to welterweight to knock out Jeff Horn in June 2018 to earn a 147-pound belt.

Crawford then consolidated all four titles at welterweight in a unification megafight against Errol Spence Jr. last July, before opting to face Madrimov for his title at 154 pounds. The feat etches Crawford’s name onto the list of excellent fighters who have won four (or more) recognized world titles or lineal championships in different weight classes.

Below is a list of the fighters who have achieved the accomplishment in the last three decades.

Adrien Broner

Broner became a four-division titleholder in 2015 when he won a vacant junior welterweight belt against Khabib Allakhverdiev. Prior to that win, Broner had won junior lightweight, lightweight, junior welterweight and welterweight titles.

Broner achieved the feat in a space of four years (2011-2015) and, at age 35, is still active at 147 pounds.

Miguel Cotto

Puerto Rico’s Cotto, who turned pro in 2001, managed to annex world titles in four divisions by 2014, at the age of 33. Cotto won a junior welterweight, welterweight, junior middleweight and lineal middleweight title during a 16-year career span.

The retired Cotto – considered one of the greatest fighters in Puerto Rico’s rich boxing history – faced the best fighters of his era, including Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Antonio Margarito.

Nonito Donaire

From a nation that has also produced Pacquiao, Ceferino Garcia and Pancho Villa, among others, Donaire is one the Philippines’ best-ever fighters. Between 2007 and 2014, the “Filipino Flash” has won at least one title at flyweight, bantamweight, junior featherweight (including the lineal title) and featherweight.

Within this period, Donaire has fought other one-time titleholders such as Guillermo Rigondeaux, Naoya Inoue, Carl Frampton and Jessie Magdaleno. At 41 and following defeats in each of his last two fights, Donaire is contemplating retirement.

Roman Gonzalez

Having achieved a rarified level of proficiency in his 19-years-and-counting career, “Chocolatito” Gonzalez can be challenged for supremacy among Nicaraguan fighters only by former three-division champ Alexis Arguello. The 37-year-old Gonzalez recently returned to his winning ways last month, after losing his junior bantamweight crown to Juan Francisco Estrada in December 2022.

Gonzalez, who turned pro in July 2005, has held belts at minimumweight, light flyweight, flyweight and junior bantamweight. He is the first boxer from Nicaragua to win titles in four divisions, surpassing even his idol Arguello.

Juan Manuel Marquez

You can’t talk about the best Mexican fighters in recent years without mentioning Marquez’s name. He represents an exquisite blend of technical proficiency, ring intelligence and his home country’s hard-nosed fighting style.

Between 2003 and 2012, Marquez won featherweight, junior lightweight, lightweight (including lineal) and junior welterweight titles. Now 50, Marquez last fought 10 years ago, when he earned a 12-round unanimous decision win over Mike Alvarado.

Noted for going toe-to-toe with eight-division champion Pacquiao on four different occasions, Marquez also fought the likes of Mayweather, Marco Antonio Barrera, Joel Casamayor, Timothy Bradley Jr. and Orlando Salido.

Roy Jones Jr.

Fresh off winning silver at Seoul Olympic Games, Jones, from Pensacola, Florida, turned pro in 1989 and has been fighting – in some form or fashion – almost ever since. Most recently, in April 2023, at age 53, Jones fought to a majority decision loss against then-36-year-old mixed martial artist Anthony Pettis in his boxing debut.

Jones, a six-time world titleholder in four different weight classes, earned belts at middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight between 1993 and 2003.

Naoya Inoue

Having already dispatched elite opponents such as Nonito Doniare, Stephen Fulton, Marlon Tapales and Luis Nery, “The Monster” currently reigns as undisputed junior featherweight champion and one of boxing’s best pound-for-pound fighters. 

Japan’s Inoue (27-0, 25 KOs) has held light flyweight, junior bantamweight, bantamweight and junior featherweight titles – the last two in which he consolidated the belts to claim undisputed status. Inoue is scheduled to put all his 122-pound titles on the line against TJ Doheny next month in Tokyo.

Oscar De La Hoya

De La Hoya announced himself to the world in 1992, first at the Barcelona Games and then as a professional. He made history, at age 24, by becoming the youngest fighter ever to win world titles in four different weight divisions.

De La Hoya won his first title in 1994 when he won a junior lightweight belt. By 1997, he would add lightweight, junior welterweight (including lineal) and welterweight titles.

The Los Angeles native finished his career as a six-division champion after winning lineal titles at junior middleweight and middleweight. De La Hoya faced fellow multiple-division world titleholders such as Julio Cesar Chavez (twice), Pernell Whitaker, Shane Mosley (twice), Pacquiao and Mayweather, losing to the latter three only in the final, declining stage of his career.

Manny Pacquiao

The pride of the Philippines, Pacquiao, is the only fighter in history to have won world titles in eight different divisions. Between 112 to 154 pounds, “PacMan” dominated weight classes across flyweight, junior featherweight, featherweight, junior lightweight, lightweight, junior welterweight, welterweight and junior middleweight.

He achieved the remarkable record between 1998 and 2010, facing strong opposition from the likes of Erik Morales, De La Hoya, Marquez and Mayweather, among others. Pacquiao, 45, is currently considering coming out of retirement to take on welterweight titleholder Mario Barrios.

Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Mayweather is known for running the table to finish his career with an undefeated record (50-0, 27 KOs), but what made the accomplishment all the more extraordinary was his doing so across a breadth of divisions – including five in which he won world titles.

With the lineal junior lightweight, lightweight, welterweight and junior middleweight titles, plus a junior welterweight belt, to his credit – earned between 1998 and 2007 – Mayweather remains one of the most decorated fighters in boxing history.

Sometimes criticized for cherry-picking opponents in the later stages of his career, Mayweather deserves immense credit for facing – and besting – the strongest opposition from his era, including Pacquiao, De La Hoya, Mosley, Marquez, Cotto, Alvarez and Ricky Hatton.

Bernard Neequaye is a sports journalist with a specialty in boxing coverage. He wrote a boxing column titled “From The Ringside” back in his native Ghana for years. He can be reached on X (formerly Twitter) at @BernardNeequaye, LinkedIn at Bernard Neequaye and through email at [email protected].