Terence Crawford is injured until at least May, raising question marks over his next steps.
Crawford is coming off a victory against Israil Madrimov, which made him the WBA Junior Middleweight Champion. The victory took him to titles in four weight classes, marking a successful start to 2024. That victory followed his win over Errol Spence Jr., which made him the first Undisputed Welterweight Champion of the four-belt era, confirming his position as undisputed in two weight classes. Since the Madrimov fight, there have been several question marks over Crawford’s career.
The Madrimov performance came under fire, with some feeling that Crawford looked far from impressive. He was hit more than usual, something which may have been put down to his age. Crawford is 37 years old and clearly at the latter end of his career. He has been chasing a lucrative fight with Canelo Alvarez, which would require him to move up three weight classes. However, there is nothing to indicate that a fight will happen. He could have unifications at 154 pounds. There are fights available against Sebastian Fundora and Bakhram Murtazaliev.
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Fundora is the WBO and WBC Junior Middleweight Champion, while Murtazaliev holds the IBF belt. That presents a pathway for Crawford to try and become undisputed in three weight classes. Crawford has also been linked with a fight against Teofimo Lopez Jr. The Takeover has called out Crawford numerous times once he beat Steve Claggart in his last fight to defend his WBO Junior Welterweight Title. The fight would require Lopez to jump up two weight classes since it is unlikely that Crawford would move back down to 147. However, Crawford has consistently shown reluctance to take that fight, telling Lopez to focus on the other big names in his division.
Teofimo could easily make fights with Devin Haney, Ryan Garcia, and Gervonta Davis, but Lopez has not given hope of making the Crawford fight. He has had various digs at Crawford on social media in order to tantalize Bud into taking that fight. However, the problem facing Crawford is that he does not fight a lot. He has only boxed once a year since 2020, something which he has been criticized for. Turki Alalshikh also said Crawford has an injury, which prevented a Vergil Ortiz Jr. fight from happening. But even if that fight went ahead, Teddy Atlas backed Crawford to win.
“I tried and I pushed to do this fight [against Ortiz]. But Crawford now is not ready and not training. He has a small, little health issue, a little injury, but he prefers to fight with us in May and after May. These are the options,” Alalshikh said
“I’m not going against Crawford. I love his style, his tenacity, his body punching, his power. I love all of it. Although he didn’t explode in his last fight against Bohachuk, but I still love the way the guy goes about his business. His confidence and the way he behaves like a fighter and thinks like a fighter. But I can’t go against Crawford, I’m sorry. Until somebody knocks the king off of his throne,” Atlas stated
