The harsh truth behind Terence Crawford’s career stopped mattering – here’s why
Terence Crawford has retired from boxing with a perfect record and a secure legacy, in a business where very few get to walk away with both of those things.
Crawford is now 38, he is unbeaten in 42 fights, and during his 18 years in the ring he won versions of world titles at five different weights; he managed to become the undisputed champion – the holder of all four recognised belts – at three weights.
Crawford’s boxing career ended in front of over 70,000 people when he beat Canelo Alvarez just three months ago, but it had started in obscurity over four rounds in hotel lounges. He was just another dreamer, a kid from Omaha with wild ambition, but no gimmick.
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Finally, in 2013, he had a break; he was 19-0 at the time, but had only been in four-, six- and eight-round fights in boxing’s lost and forgotten outposts. He was matched with the devastating puncher, Breidis Prescott, in Las Vegas. Crawford accepted the fight at short notice and won all 10 rounds, and his long and hard road to recognition was over. The unknown kid from Omaha had arrived.
Just two fights and one year later, Crawford travelled to Scotland to beat Ricky Burns and win the WBO lightweight title. Crawford was the underdog in that fight; it went the full 12 rounds, and it was the start of a truly extraordinary sequence of 20 consecutive world-title fights. Crawford has maintained Burns was “the greatest fight of my career”.
Crawford started his world-championship reign at lightweight and finished against Alvarez at super-middleweight. He eased through the divisions, becoming undisputed champion at super-lightweight, welterweight and super-middleweight. Last summer he won the interim WBO super-lightweight title.
It means he dominated for 12 years, across the weight chasm of 135lb to 168lb.
Crawford also stopped or knocked out 15 of the 20 men he beat in world-title fights. He was known as a boxer, but those numbers make him a banger.
The harsh truth is that it took Crawford a long, long time to become a high-profile champion. He was in good fights, often against good fighters, but at that time he lacked the respect he believed he was owed. It took a considerable amount of time and fights to get the respect he deserved.
Crawford blamed promoters, and the promoters blamed Crawford. “It’s their job to promote me,” he said during his ugly split with Bob Arum. He was, it must be said, reluctant at times to embrace the glitzy side of the business. “I lost money on his fights,” Arum countered.
Crawford had seven fights at super-lightweight, which is also known as light-welterweight, and in 2017 he became an undisputed champion for the first time. However, stoppage wins against men like Thomas Dulorme, Dierry Jean, Hank Lundy and Julius Indongo hardly raised his profile outside the business. Still, his standing inside the game was high and his qualities were appreciated.
The move to welterweight in 2018 changed the judgement and shifted the spotlight considerably in his direction. The stoppage win over Amir Khan in six easy rounds at Madison Square Garden in 2019 was the type of win that he needed – it was a win against a high-profile fighter, a man with status, a man with a name.
There was then a trio of stoppage wins against former champions and a leading contender; the three fights were, due to Covid, spread over three years and they changed the way everybody in the business looked at Crawford. He stopped Kell Brook in four, Shawn Porter in 10 and David Avanesyan in six rounds.
It also helped that Crawford at welterweight had a fancied and dangerous natural rival in Errol Spence Jr, who held the three other belts at the weight.
Spence Jr was unbeaten in 28 fights but was troubled away from the ring, and when they met in 2023 it was a ‘50-50 fight’ in billing. But, as it turned out, not in the ring on the night, it was a mismatch. Crawford won in round nine of a shutout and Spence Jr was dropped three times. Spence Jr has not fought since, and Crawford has only boxed once each year in the last six years.
The simple method of preservation has helped him; the careful selection of fights in his early championship reign also helped Crawford grow old effortlessly. He is a fresh 38, not a man battling to recapture the speed and timing of his youth.
Last summer, Crawford had a hard 12-round win over Israil Madrimov for the WBO interim super-light title; it looked like he had reached the ceiling of his weight gain. On the night against Madrimov, he was 19lb heavier than he had been a decade earlier against Burns in his first world-title fight. It felt like Crawford’s power and skill had diminished with the weight gain, and that he would not go any higher.
Everybody was wrong – Crawford had a grand plan, a goodbye fight to defy sensible thinking.
He hibernated for about 10 months, agreed terms for the Alvarez fight, gained around 12lb in muscle across his back and shoulders, and put on a masterclass in front of over 70,000 to become the undisputed champion at a third weight.
His retirement was a shock, but it makes sense. He is one of the best modern fighters. He is, perhaps, the last of the great fighters to rule at his various weights with such majesty, after an obscure start in the business.
