Terence “Bud” Crawford’s bid to become a five-division champion will begin with the end of his fourth reign.
The unbeaten switch hitter is set for his challenge of unbeaten super middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. BoxingScene has confirmed that the WBA will permit Crawford, 41-0 (31 KOs), to enter the ring as its 154lbs titleholder. He will be introduced as such at the start of their September 13 superfight on Netflix from Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Once the opening bell sounds, Crawford will then be relieved of the belt, no matter the outcome of the fight.
The main benefactor will be Abass Baraou, 17-1 (9 KOs). In fact, the 30-year-old from Berlin could not have picked a more ideal time for his latest, a twelve-round, unanimous decision over unbeaten WBA interim 154lbs titlist Yoenis Tellez this past Saturday in Orlando, Florida.
Baraou will receive an instant upgrade to full WBA titleholder. The caveat is that he will be ordered to next defend against former undisputed champ Jermell Charlo, who is the WBA “Champion in Recess.”
Ironically, Charlo’s last fight was against Alvarez and conducted under the same title stipulations as Crawford. Houston’s Charlo was permitted to enter the ring as undisputed 154lbs champion but was immediately relieved of his WBO title once the bell sounded.
Alvarez went on to defeat Charlo via lopsided unanimous decision in their September 2023 meeting at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Charlo has not fought since that night; it remains to be seen if he would go straight into a title fight with Baraou after more than two years out of the ring.
In the event that a new challenger is sought, Jaron “Boots” Ennis, 34-0 (30 KOs), could land that opportunity. The former lineal and unified welterweight champion is next due to face Uisma Lima, 14-1 (10KOs), in a WBA 154lbs title eliminator on October 11 in his hometown of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
With a win and any decision by Charlo other than to honor the WBA ruling, Ennis would then be in a position to challenge for his second divisional title.
Crawford claimed the WBA junior middleweight title in a twelve-round, unanimous decision victory over then-unbeaten Israil Madrimov last August 3 in Los Angeles, California. The distance win snapped Crawford’s 11-fight knockout streak, though it still resulted in his tenth major title collected over four weight divisions.
His year-plus long reign will end without a single defense. He opted to remain idle as plans were long in the works to next challenge Alvarez. A win would see Crawford claim his third undisputed championship and fourth as lineal crown, feats that would undoubtedly place him in conversation among the greatest boxers of all time.
Mexico’s Alvarez will attempt the tenth defense of his unified lineal, WBA and WBC 168lbs reign that dates back to his December 2020 points win over Callum Smith. He fully unified the divisional titles in a November 2021 11th round knockout win over Caleb Plant but was stripped of the IBF title last summer ahead of his unanimous decision win over Edgar Berlanga.
The IBF belt was reclaimed by Alvarez in his latest win, a shutout of unbeaten William Scull over 12 painfully dull rounds on May 3 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. His clash with Crawford will mark his fourth consecutive unbeaten opponent and 25th overall against a former or current primary titleholder.
Crawford enters his third straight fight against a reigning champ, spread out over 26 months. His win over Madrimov last summer came 53 weeks after his career-best feat, a stunningly one-sided, ninth-round stoppage of Errol Spence in their July 2023 welterweight summit meeting to fully unify the division’s four major titles.
