WBO president Paco Valcarcel says Terence Crawford could move up to 154 and fight for the title. Valcarcel states that Crawford will meet with him this Friday, and they’ll talk about him moving up to 154.
The idea would be for Crawford to use his status as WBO ‘super champion’ to be made mandatory for Tszyu’s 154-lb belt to challenge him for his title after he faces Keith Thurman in their non-title fight next month on March 30th.
Tszyu (24-0, 17 KOs) isn’t the mega-payday fight that Crawford wanted against Canelo Alvarez, but it’s the best he can hope for due to the Mexican star ruling out a clash against him.
Crawford isn’t interested in staying at 147 and facing IBF welterweight champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis, even though that fight would attract much attention from U.S. boxing fans.
Terence wants to capture a fourth division world title, and he can do that by beating Tszyu, who is not as fast as Boots Ennis. Tszyu-Crawford would be shown on PPV, and there would be Australian pay-per-view money that would give Crawford a nice payday.
Moving up to 168 would allow Crawford to fight Jaime Munguia, Caleb Plant, and David Benavidez. There’s money to be made there for him, but it’ll be harder for Crawford for obvious reasons.
If Crawford is serious about fighting Canelo, the best way to improve his chances is to go up to 168 and fight Benavidez, Plant, or Munguia.
Strategic Planning Underway
“The winner of that fight will have a tough cookie for his next mandatory,” said WBO president Paco Valcarcel to Fighthype about Tim Tszyu having a tough challenger for his next title defense of his 154-lb title.
“Let me tell you. Crawford will be here next week. We’re going to talk about that fight. I’m not authorized to tell. He loved to fight at 154, but I’m not authorized to make it public.
“I have been talking to Crawford for long now, but he’ll be in Puerto Rico this week on Friday. You are the first person I’ve talked to about the possibility of Crawford moving to 154,” said Valcarcel.
