Terence “Bud” Crawford outlasted the industry and is now set to go out on his terms.
The undefeated pound-for-pound king and five-division champion confirmed his exit from the sport through social media on Tuesday. Crawford, 42-0 (31 KOs) will leave the sport as the reigning lineal and unified 168lbs champion and a slam dunk future first-ballot Hall of Famer.
“Walking away as a great with nothing else left to prove,” Crawford, 38, said in a social media post accompanied by a 5-minute video tribute.
“Every fighter knows this moment will come. You just never know when.”
The sudden announcement came three months after finest hour – and for now, the final act in his storied 17-year career.
Crawford, 38, moved up two weight divisions to dethrone undisputed 168lbs champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. Their September 13 clash headlined a live boxing event on Netflix, which drew an estimated global audience of 41.4 million viewers. It served as the most watch men’s championship contest of the 21st century.
It was a fitting swan song for Crawford, who was just two fights removed from his undisputed welterweight championship reign and separated only by a pit stop at 154lbs to claim a WBA belt. Crawford defied the odds and not only outclassed Mexico’s Alvarez, 63-3-2 (39 KOs) but made it look effortless at times as he walked away with a well-earned unanimous decision. The fight headlined the first – and to date, the only – combat sports event to take place at Allegiant Stadium, home to the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders.
The feat saw Crawford join rare elite company who’ve claimed major titles in five weight divisions (135lbs, 140lbs, 147lbs, 154lbs, 168lbs). He is also part of a miniscule list of four-division lineal champions (Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao are the only other two) and the only fighter ever in the four-belt era to claim undisputed championship status at three weights (140lbs, 147lbs and 168lbs).
“I’ve spent my whole life chasing something,” Crawford said. “Not belts, not money, not headlines. But that feeling you get when the world doubts you. But you keep showing up and you keep proving everyone wrong.
“This sport gave me everything. I fought for my family, I fought for my city and the kid I used to be – the one who had a dream and a pair of gloves.”
Crawford thanked virtually everyone who played a role at some point in his life. He cited his early years with the now-defunct TKO Promotions – “my first promotional company when nobody else would take a chance on me” – and then the next ten years with Top Rank, where he claimed the lineal and WBO 135lbs crown, full undisputed status at 140lbs and the WBO belt at 147lbs.
The latter reign began in 2018, touching off a five-year out-of-ring rivalry with then-unbeaten Errol Spence Jnr.
At the time, Spence held the IBF belt but famously quipped that Crawford was “on the wrong side of the street” in relation to the topic of their meeting in the ring. Spence was a proud ambassador of Premier Boxing Champions, with whom Top Rank’s Bob Arum was engaged in a long-running feud.
To Spence’s point, Crawford ultimately landed the fight in 2023, more than a year after he became a free agent and also following a hiccup that saw talks die at the table in late 2022.
The two eventually met for every relevant piece of hardware in their July 2023 welterweight summing meeting. Crawford promoted the hell out of the Showtime Pay-Per-View event – and himself – ahead of what at the time was the defining point of his hard-luck but spectacularly credentialed career. He manhandled Spence en route to a 9th round stoppage to become the division’s first undisputed champion in nearly 20 years.
Despite the changes in promoters through the years, there remained a constant in Crawford’s career – his boxing lifelong affiliation with the training team of Brian “Bomac” McIntyre, Esau Dieguez and Red Spikes, along with lifelong friend and current super middleweight Steven Nelson.
The team remained intact from his 2008 pro debut, through a near-fatal shooting suffered later that year, and eventually the historic tear through five weight divisions.
The final two fights of Crawford’s career was spent in partnership with Turki Alalshikh and Riyadh Season. He headlined the group’s first U.S. venture, an August 2024 show at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles. Crawford dethroned then-unbeaten WBA 154lbs titlist Israil Madrimov via unanimous decision in one of the toughest fights of his career.
Alalshikh already planted the seed at the time to stage a Crawford-Alvarez event. It meant securing the services of the Mexican great – a bumpy ride before he hit Alvarez’s number in a four-fight deal struck earlier this year.
From there, Crawford took care of the rest.
“Thank you Turki, Sela and Riyadh,” said Crawford. “Not just for making history with me, but continuing to do what you do for the sport of boxing. I did it all – my way. I gave this sport every breath I had. Every spar, every triumph, every ounce of my heart. I made peace with what’s next.
“Now, it’s time.”
