As great as he is, the recent knock on Terence Crawford has been the fact that he has, since 2020, boxed just once a year. “Bud,” aged 36 but still looking to be at his dazzling, primetime best, is of course coming off that big, it-was-supposed-to-be-competitive win over Errol Spence. And it’s entirely possible the July masterclass will turn out to be both Crawford’s defining fight and his last fight.
With the contracted return fight with Spence now seemingly no longer a thing, Crawford, perfect at 40-0(31) has no obvious plan that we know of regarding his next fight, his next move. But in a recent message on X (formerly twitter), Crawford suggested he may only fight one more time before he retires from the sport.
“I might give y’all 1 more or not because y’all don’t know how to appreciate greatness when you see it,” Crawford wrote this week.
Crawford has long since been annoyed at the way his critics have either not given him his just-due at all, or they have only done so belatedly. Crawford is happy and content with the career he has had, and he is right when he says (and has been saying so for some time) that he is a lock for The Hall of Fame.
But could there be more from Crawford and his sublime skills, maybe much more? Has any fighter been capable of pushing Crawford hard, to the extent that he has had to dig deep and pull out all his best stuff? No. Will such a fight ever happen? Maybe not. There has been talk of Crawford maybe going for ‘the ultimate’ and a fight with reigning 168 pound king Canelo Alvarez, but that real life dream fight aside, Crawford appears to have no real idea when it comes to what he will do next.
“Bud” has said no to a fight with Boots Ennis, Crawford has dismissed Teofimo Lopez’s recent call out, and is Crawford still interested in a fight with Jermall Charlo?
It would be a shame if Crawford did retire. It would be great to see Crawford go for greatness in a fight with Canelo, while despite what he may say about Boots not being on his level or ready to fight him, Crawford against the young and unbeaten contender (now a belt-holder) would be a fascinating fight we would all tune in for.
On the other hand, it’s Crawford’s call, and how many times has a great fighter been able to go out on top, on his own terms, with an unbeaten record? It’s a rare thing, and Crawford would no doubt be celebrated grandly if he was able to emulate the special ones like Rocky Marciano, Floyd Mayweather, Andre Ward, Ricardo Lopez, and any other world champions who exited on top, without ever tasting defeat.
Crawford teased us with the words, “I might give y’all 1 more…”
But if Crawford does stick around for one more fight, who will it be against?