WBO, WBA, WBC junior welterweight champion Terence Crawford (32-0, 23 KOs) is heading up to the welterweight division. And as a result his world titles will become vacant.
In August, Crawford knocked out Julius Indongo to unify the entire division by bringing together the WBO, WBA, IBF, WBC titles. Crawford has already vacated his IBF belt. And he fully intends to head up to 147-pounds.
The World Boxing Council, before announcing the title is vacant, is waiting for Crawford to submit a letter which confirms his intention to move up in weight.
If Crawford does vacate, the WBC will order two contests to take place.
Number one contender Amir Imam will fight third ranked Jose Ramirez for the vacant title. And number two ranked Regis Prograis will fight number four Viktor Postol for the interim title.
Imam (20-1, 17 KOs) has won two in a row since getting knocked out by Adrian Granados in November 2015. At the time of that fight, Imam was the mandatory challenger to the WBC title and was facing Granados to stay busy. Imam was in action back in April, when he stopped Jose Soto in Santo Domingo.
Ramirez (20-0, 15 KOs) returns to the ring next month, in a dangerous fight with undefeated Mike Reed in Fresno, as part of an ESPN televised tripleheader. The WBC Continental Americas title will be at stake. If Reed wins, he would take over Ramirez's position.
Prograis (20-0, 17 KOs) is a rising star in the division. He had an impressive win back in June, when he destroyed Joel Diaz Jr. in a Showtime televised fight.
Postol (29-1, 12 KOs) has only fought once since losing a twelve round decision to Crawford in their unification last July. He came back in September and fought Jamshidbek Najmiddinov. During the fight, Postol was dropped hard and nearly got stopped, but survived and fought his way to a unanimous decision win in Kiev.
