Terence Crawford’s retirement is a great decision for him, bittersweet news for the sport and a welcome turn of events for the super middleweight division.
It’s a shame that we won’t see any more of Crawford’s sublime talent, to be able to watch a master at work. Yet it’s also true that Crawford is leaving at the right time. That’s rather rare. Nearly every boxer fights on past their best days, continuing on in hopes of regaining a world title and all the trappings that come with it, or because they need the money, or simply due to the fact that boxing has been their life and they don’t quite know how to move on.
There’s always the possibility that Crawford’s retirement will be short-lived, that it is a negotiating tactic – one that has been employed by others – intended to show that he is willing to step away if he does not get the terms he’s seeking, be it for a rematch with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez or a pairing with one of the titleholders at middleweight or a contender at super middleweight.
More likely, Crawford saw no reason to fight on.
Crawford first stepped foot in a boxing gym at the age of 7. He is now 38. That is three decades of fighting and training. He has spent more than 17 years as a professional prizefighter. He has been in the spotlight for most of that, debuting on HBO in 2013, winning his first world title in 2014, and every match since then has been a title fight.
Of his 42 wins, 20 of them have been in world title fights.
He defended his lightweight title two times, including winning the Ring Magazine championship in his final outing at 135.
He captured a vacant belt at junior welterweight and made six successful defenses, unifying titles along the way until he was the undisputed king at 140.
He seized a welterweight title and made seven defenses, culminating in a long-awaited meeting with the one other man atop his division, Errol Spence Jnr, whom Crawford dominated to add another undisputed championship.
He moved up to junior middleweight and beat a titleholder there. And then he jumped all the way up to super middleweight and dethroned the longstanding king, becoming the first male fighter in the modern era to be undisputed in three weight classes.
Every time Crawford ascended to the top of a division, he then ascended to the next division, the next big obstacle to overcome. When he became undisputed at 140, the next generation of contenders was not quite ready, and bigger names awaited at 147. When he became undisputed at 147, the top contender awaiting a deserved shot was Jaron “Boots” Ennis, but Crawford chose to move to 154. There were plenty of talented titleholders and contenders at 154, but none could give Crawford a spotlight and a paycheck comparable to what he would receive by taking on Canelo at 168.
It’s terrific when someone is great enough not only to take the throne but to continue reigning over all who want to take it from him. But that’s not always what happens, not when a fighter may want more relief on the scale or has better options available.
In Crawford’s cases, his options included a rematch with Canelo, facing a handful of viable challengers at 168 or moving down and attempting to become undisputed at 160.
Crawford has never been more marketable than now, coming off his victory over Canelo on Netflix in September and his triumph against Spence in 2023 in their undisputed welterweight championship fight. But he still would need another notable dance partner in order to draw the most eyeballs and move the most tickets.
Canelo would of course outpace the rest of the potential suitors. In a distant second place, perhaps, would be a clash with super middleweight contender Hamzah Sheeraz in the United Kingdom.
Beyond that? Well, the list includes Osleys Iglesias, Lester Martinez, Christian Mbilli and Diego Pacheco at 168; and 160lbs titleholders Carlos Adames, Erislandy Lara and Jhanibek Alimkhanuly (whose positive test for a banned performance-enhancing drug took him out of a bout against Lara). Despite the names and pedigrees of the Charlo brothers, Jermall and Jermell haven’t been active or impressive enough to help sell a fight.
It’s not just about money, however, but about motivation. Crawford earned millions over the course of his career as a titleholder with Top Rank, but the most lucrative events were only a recent occurrence, particularly the two headliners alongside Spence and Canelo.
It might be difficult to go into another training camp after a life of them, to put a 38-year-old body through the physical rigors required to perform at such a high level, when the opponent – as good as they might be – otherwise represents a mental letdown.
That’s a loss for the fighters who would have benefited from sharing a ring with Crawford, even in defeat. But this may wind up working out better for them in the long run.
Crawford’s exit, and the uncertainty over Canelo’s next steps, leave a power vacuum that hasn’t existed in some time.
Canelo accumulated all four world titles over an 11-month span, from his decision over Callum Smith in December 2020 through his stoppage of Caleb Plant in November 2021. But the rest of Canelo’s reign was a comparative disappointment.
The first thing Canelo did was go up to light heavyweight and lose to Dmitry Bivol. Then he returned to 168 and outpointed Gennadiy Golovkin in a third fight that lacked the close and thrilling action of the previous two. That was followed by a homecoming win over fringe contender John Ryder, a one-sided points win over late replacement Jermell Charlo and dominant decisions over solid but unspectacular contenders Jaime Munguia and Edgar Berlanga. He was just too much better than the fighters he was facing and not willing to face someone who was much better than those selections: David Benavidez.
Canelo had parted ways with the IBF belt in 2024 rather than face mandatory contender William Scull, who went on to beat Vladimir Shishkin for the vacant title. This past May, Canelo opted to meet Scull and regained the undisputed recognition in one of the dreariest boxing matches in a year that has had too many of them, chasing fruitlessly after an overly elusive Scull.
All the while, other contenders were working their way up. But they were never likely to be picked by Canelo, who was on a farewell tour of sorts.
Thankfully, that meant they were occasionally willing to face each other rather than play things safe and remain available in case Canelo came calling. In the past couple of years, we’ve gotten fights such as Christian Mbilli vs. Lester Martinez, Diego Pacheco vs. Kevin Lele Sadjo, Berlanga vs. Hamzah Sheeraz, Benavidez vs. Plant and Demetrius Andrade, Plant vs. Trevor McCumby, Bektemir Melikuziev vs. Darius Fulghum and Iglesias vs. Shishkin.
Now the inevitable vacancies left behind by Crawford should mean more collisions.
Crawford had already dumped his WBC title. Although Mbilli has the interim WBC belt, he won’t be automatically upgraded. Instead, the sanctioning body ordered Mbilli vs. Sheeraz for the primary designation. Meanwhile, WBA interim titleholder Jose Armando Resendiz, who upset Plant earlier this year for that trinket, will likely be promoted. Iglesias is in first position to face whomever the IBF mandates.
The WBO’s next regularly scheduled rankings update will soon be released but currently has Canelo at No. 1, Sheeraz at No. 2 and Pacheco at No. 3. Canelo hasn’t indicated what he will do next, but don’t be surprised if the WBO calls for Canelo vs. Pacheco and Pacheco’s team eagerly accepts, deciding to cash out given its fighter’s recent run of disappointing performances – and hedging against the notion that, even in defeat, the 23-year-old could continue to improve afterward.
And then the division would hopefully continue to shake itself out. We have been spoiled in recent years with more fighters up and down the scale focusing on unification bouts and vying for undisputed, but it’s a relatively recent phenomenon.
Although there has been a large gap in talent between the top man at 168 – Canelo in recent years, Crawford in recent months – and the rest below him, the super middleweights are at least in better shape than the welterweights were (and still are).
When Crawford became undisputed at 147, all four sanctioning bodies also had secondary titleholders because, well … because boxing. Each man would soon be upgraded: Mario Barrios (WBC), Ennis (IBF), Brian Norman Jnr (WBO) and Eimantas Stanionis (WBA).
Ennis unified the IBF and WBA belts by stopping Stanionis and then moved up to 154.
Barrios has looked vulnerable and unimpressive in draws with Abel Ramos and the 46-year-old version of Manny Pacquiao. He’ll next defend against Ryan Garcia, who is coming off a lackluster loss to Rolando “Rolly” Romero.
Norman looked phenomenal while scoring knockouts over lower-tier foes Derrieck Cuevas and Jin Sasaki, and then was undone and unseated by Devin Haney.
Romero’s win against Garcia was for a secondary WBA belt, and he now is the primary titleholder. He’ll either face longtime mandatory contender Shakhram Giyasov or will be granted an exception so he can take on Pacquiao.
Lewis Crocker picked up Ennis’ old IBF title via split decision in September’s rematch with Paddy Donovan.
Aside from Haney, it’s a middling weight class. And there are still questions about just how much Haney has improved from how he looked while losing to an overweight, doped-up version of Garcia.
The best way to stand out as the future of the super middleweight division is to do something akin to Canelo’s initial campaign at 168, and what Crawford and Spence combined to do in clearing out 147.
The future also looked uncertain at junior welterweight when Crawford left in 2017. But the remaining fighters faced each other in both an official tournament and an unofficial one.
The IBF title at 140lbs wound up with Sergey Lipinets, who lost to Mikey Garcia, who then vacated the belt. The WBA title was picked up by Kiryl Relikh. The WBC was won by Jose Ramirez. And the WBO soon was around the waist of Maurice Hooker.
The World Boxing Super Series tournament kicked off in fall 2018 and saw Ivan Baranchyk beat Anthony Yigit for the vacant IBF belt. In the semifinals in spring 2019, Josh Taylor dethroned Baranchyk and Regis Prograis unseated Relikh. When Taylor edged Prograis in the October 2019 finale, he exited as the unified IBF and WBA titleholder.
Meanwhile, Ramirez was staking his own claim outside of the tournament, including a TKO of Hooker in July 2019 to unify the WBC and WBO belts. By May 2021, it was only natural for Ramirez and Taylor to meet with the undisputed championship on the line. Taylor triumphed and, for a brief time at least, was seen as the class of 140.
The chaos that will come at super middleweight in Crawford’s absence is a form of opportunity. The best way to deal with chaos is to bring some sense of order. Several fighters will see the power vacuum and seek to seize power. And the best possible outcome of a vacuum is a clean sweep.
David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.
