Terence Crawford (37-0, 28 KOs) will be coming back from an eleven-month layoff when he returns to the ring to defend his WBO 147-lb title on October 23 in the main event on ESPN.
Top Rank is still looking for the right opponent for Crawford. But they should have someone soon.
This will be the 33-year-old Crawford’s only fight in 2021, as he’s been sitting on the shelf waiting for his promoters at Top Rank to find him an opponent.
It’s too bad that Top Rank couldn’t find an opponent for Crawford earlier this year, but they’ve been trying to set up a big match for him against Manny Pacquiao, but the money wasn’t there for an overseas fight.
Top Rank boss Bob Arum recently listed three 140-pounders that he’s considering as options for Crawford. The three guys Arum mentioned are as follows: Jose Zepeda, Regis Prograis, and Jose Ramirez.
Unless Arum can set up a fight between Crawford and one of the PBC welterweights like Keith Thurman, Danny Garcia, or Shawn Porter, he’ll likely wind up fighting Zepeda or Ramirez.
Undisputed 140-lb champion Josh Taylor could also be an option for Crawford’s next fight in October, but it’s unclear whether Arum wants to make that fight just yet.
It doesn’t make sense for Arum to make the Crawford-Taylor fight if Crawford will be leaving Top Rank when his contract is up with them at the end of this year.
They promote Taylor, and it doesn’t help them if Crawford beats him and lowers his value in the process.
It’s better for Top Rank if they keep Taylor in a different lane. It’s not that he couldn’t potentially beat Crawford, but if he loses to him, his value will be diminished.
The boxing public would obviously prefer that Crawford fight a top 147-pounder, but Top Rank doesn’t have access to many talented guys in the weight class.
Vergil Ortiz Jr, Jaron Ennis, and Shawn Porter are three fighters that would like to challenge Crawford for his title, but Arum isn’t likely to choose any of those three.
For Crawford to fight Porter, it would have to be on ESPN PPV, but it might not sell enough buys to cover the purses for the two. Top Rank won’t want to take a huge loss on that fight.
Crawford needs a fighter that can bring in many PPV buys, and the only two guys that would work are Manny Pacquiao and Errol Spence Jr.
Those are already tied up fighting on August 21st, so neither will be available to fight Crawford in October. Crawford has an excellent chance of fighting Spence in 2022, but not this year, unfortunately.
Promoter @BobArum tells me that @terencecrawford‘s next fight will be Oct. 23 on ESPN. No opponent set just yet but said the @trboxing team is working on it. #boxing
— Dan Rafael (@DanRafael1) June 22, 2021
Crawford signed with Top Rank / ESPN knowing they had no one to fight him. You can’t blame only Bob Arum. Crawford signed the contract.
Now Crawford needs to sign with PBC like Pacquiao did, if Crawford wants to fight any of the PBC fighters.
Wash Bud? Do you even watch boxing?
Ain’t nobody looking for a Terrance Crawford fight. Arun just about ruined his career.
I agree