Another belt is officially up for grabs in the super middleweight division.
At some point, Terence "Bud" Crawford's name will be removed from the championship slot across the board, given his recent retirement. The unbeaten and now former five-division world champion has officially vacated the IBF 168lbs title, the sanctioning body confirmed on Tuesday.
“The International Boxing Federation (IBF) received official confirmation on December 23, that Terrence [sic] Crawford has retired from the ring thus relinquishing the IBF Super Middleweight title,” the IBF confirmed to BoxingScene and other outlets in a media statement. “The IBF will proceed to request availability and order the two leading available contenders in the IBF Super Middleweight rankings to negotiate for the vacant title.”
Crawford, 42-0 (31 KOs) dethroned undisputed champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, 63-3-2 (39 KOs) via unanimous decision on September 13 at Allegiant Stadium, home to the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders.
His reign ended after just three months and without another fight upon his announced retirement. WBO president Gustavo Olivieri confirmed days after that Crawford vacated the sanctioning body’s belt.
As was well publicized a few weeks ago, the 38-year-old fighting pride of Omaha, Nebraska was relieved of his WBC belt after he refused to pay what he described as exorbitant sanctioning fees demanded by the Mexico City-headquartered organization.
To date, the WBA has yet to confirm that Crawford has turned in that belt as well. However, BoxingScene has learned that plans are already in place for Armando Resendiz, 16-2 (11 KOs) – the current WBA interim 168lbs titlist – to receive an upgrade. The move will likely coincide with the forthcoming announcement of his first defense, likely to come on the February 21 Mario Barrios-Ryan Garcia PBC on Prime pay-per-view undercard.
As for the IBF, red-hot contender Osleys Iglesias, 14-0 (13 KOs) is the current mandatory challenger. His high-risk, little-to-no-reward style and profile could prove problematic in the IBF formalizing a challenger for the vacant belt.
Behind the Berlin-based Cuban knockout artist are Alvarez and Tijuana’s Jaime Munguia, 45-2 (30 KOs), the latter who is also in a favorable position to challenge for the WBC belt.
Eddy Reynoso, Alvarez’s career-long trainer, previously confirmed that the former four-division champ underwent elbow surgery and will not return until May at the earliest. He previously stated an intention to wait until next September, though at a time when it was believed that a Crawford rematch was on the table.
Regardless, there stands a greater chance that BoxingScene will gain favor with Riyadh Season and Turki Alalshikh (who funded Crawford-Alvarez) than Alvarez speeding up his rehabilitation process to face a young contender as dangerous as Iglesias.
Behind Alvarez and Munguia is England’s Callum Simpson, though he will drop from the No. 5 position due to his upset knockout loss to Troy Williamson over the weekend.
Hamzah Sheeraz is presently No. 6 – but was already named in ordered vacant title fight by both the WBC and WBO.
The unbeaten Brit was summoned to enter talks with WBC interim titlist Christian Mbilli, 29-0-1 (24 KOs) for the vacant full version of the WBC belt. He was also recently instructed to open negotiations with undefeated South Central Los Angeles-based contender Diego Pacheco, 25-0 (18 KOs) for the WBO strap.
That would then push the current list to Russia’s Pavel Siylagin, 16-0-1 (7 KOs) – precisely the type of fighter who winds up fighting for a vacant IBF belt.
The mad scramble to vie for vacant belts only further illustrates the extraordinary legacy left behind by Crawford, who won at least one title at 135lbs, 140lbs, 147lbs, 154lbs and 168lbs. He is also the only male boxer to achieve undisputed championship status in three weight divisions during the multi-belt era and just one of three to claim the lineal crown at four weights.
“Crawford’s achievements in boxing are remarkable and the IBF is proud that he was our champion,” the sanctioning body noted. “His legacy marked by his dedication and relentless pursuit for greatness will inspire many boxers for years to come.
We congratulate [Terence] Crawford on an exceptional and extraordinary career and wish him well in his future pursuits.”
