Terence Crawford moving up to Middleweight division!

By Dean Berman Terence Crawford (35-0, 26 KOs) says he plans on moving up to 160 in his next fight after he defends his WBO welterweight title this Saturday against Egidijus Kavaliauskas (21-0-1, 17 KOs) at Madison Square Garden in New York. Crawford, 32, says he’s not “playing,” and he really does plan on moving up in weight. He really does intend on moving up to middleweight to begin fighting in that weight class. Crawford isn’t moving up t 160 to try and get fights against Canelo Alvarez and Gennadiy Golovkin , as he points out those two fighters have left the division. He’s just decided to move up for some reason. Crawford isn’t giving a reason why the move up to 160, but it’s quite possible he’s tired of being ignored by the other top fighters at 147. Despite winning the World Boxing Organization welterweight title a year ago in beating Jeff Horn , Crawford has been shutout by the other elite fighters in the division. IBF/WBC champion Errol Spence Jr. was interested in fighting Crawford, but his car crash last October now makes that unlikely to happen in 2020. CRAWFORD GOING UP TO 160 “I am the king,” said Crawford about his belief he’s #1 at 147. “I’m going to 160 after this. GGG is at 168. Whoever. You think I’m playing. I’m going to 160. My next fight, I’m going to 160. Canelo at 178. Because if I beat this guy, this guy and this guy, they’re going to say, ‘You got to beat Canelo. Well, Canelo is at 178, so I might as well move up to 178,” said Crawford. Crawford unified the 140-lb division in 2017, and then moved up to 147 and captured the WBO title in stopping Jeff Horn in the 9th round in June 2018. Since then, Crawford has successfully defended his WBO welterweight title twice, beating Amir Khan and Jose Benavidez Jr by knockout. Crawford’s fight against Kavaliauskas this Saturday will be his third and presumably his final defense of his WBO title. It’s unclear why Crawford is skipping the 154 lb division, as there are some interesting fights for him in that weight class against the following guys: Jermell Charlo Tony Harrison Patrick Teixeira Julian ‘J-Rock’ Williams Jarrett Hurd Erislandy Lara Erickson Lubin It’s likely that Crawford views the fights at 160 as being bigger ones for him in terms of the money he can make. There are good fighters at 154, but none of them are big names. By Crawford moving to 160, he’ll be in a position to face these guys: Gennadiy Golovkin Canelo Alvarez Ryota Murata Chris Eubank Jr. Jermall Charlo Jaime Munguia Demetrius Andrade CRAWFORD IN SAME POSITION PAUL WILLIAMS WAS Years ago Paul Williams was an avoided welterweight, who was unable to get fights against the big names like Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao. As a result of his problems getting fights at 154, the lanky 6’1″ southpaw Williams moved up to 154, and found success before his career ended prematurely in a motorcycle accident. Crawford will be looking to move up two weight classes, which is going to be difficult for him. He’ll have a good shot at winning a belt in that weight class against Murata and Andrade. From Boxing News 24

Comments (20)

Would get smoked LMAO

6y ago

RayNguyen

He is just not done with Welter...

6y ago

Squ9633redCircle34

Suicide if he fights at Canelo or GGG at 160. That maybe true but his style helps him cuz he can box on the elite level off the back foot and if he plays defensively enough he could outbox both! Golovkin is the slower of the two but hits harder and will be harder to gain respect from! Canelo is faster and smarter but also has an equal chance for Bud to gain respect when he hits him in the ring! Canelo and Ggg will have issues with Bud’s speed, footwork and counter punching! I say Canelo is his best chance cuz movement and boxing on the outside is Canelo’s kryptonite!

6y ago

james240

No hate just debate! Canelo is a great fighter and is pound for pound number 1 IMO but let’s be honest, Bud beating Canelo who’s in his prime by going up 2 divisions is a much better win than Canelo’s win over Kovalev cuz Kov wasn’t in his prime anymore! Bud should really consider it if Bob can’t help deliver Porter for him, his style is Canelo’s kryptonite! Suicide if he fights at Canelo or GGG at 160.

6y ago

james240

Crawford is unfortunately in a bad position career wise not his fault either, he may have no choice but to risk it all at middleweight.

6y ago

Squ9633redCircle34

LMAO, the hate Nelo gets is in full force 😂 No hate just debate! Canelo is a great fighter and is pound for pound number 1 IMO but let’s be honest, Bud beating Canelo who’s in his prime by going up 2 divisions is a much better win than Canelo’s win over Kovalev cuz Kov wasn’t in his prime anymore! Bud should really consider it if Bob can’t help deliver Porter for him, his style is Canelo’s kryptonite!

6y ago

mxtali

nobody really wants to wait that long....but it just makes more sense to wait on the pbc guys to sort themselves out(likely spence if hes not completely focked now).... but wilder is 34 still waiting on AJ....golovkin was about that age still waiting on canelo.... it is what it is... id just hate to see him go to 160 and face B/C level comp... But wilder has fury and if he knocks him out that’s a huge win. Yeah and it didn’t really pay off for GGG.. Well it depends how you define it. Money wise yeah he made his millions by waiting on Canelo but he never got the official win and is still lacking a defining win. He could have moved up to 168 and took the gamble with Ward but like you said it is what it is.

6y ago

ReggieKray

He saw the Munguia vs Hogan fight and thinks he can take Munguia. Obviously I'm joking... I hope...

6y ago

JakeTheBoxer

Lol, he is getting destroyed here. i don`t even believe he can do something at 154.

6y ago

MulaKO

I don’t think Bud is serious At least not the big leap to 160 directly Pretty sure there would be a pit stop at 154 to cash in his markers there before the big leap to 160

6y ago

Curt_Henning

Probablybc he’s 32 and he doesn’t want to wait until he’s 34 to have his defining fight. nobody really wants to wait that long....but it just makes more sense to wait on the pbc guys to sort themselves out(likely spence if hes not completely focked now).... but wilder is 34 still waiting on AJ....golovkin was about that age still waiting on canelo.... it is what it is... id just hate to see him go to 160 and face B/C level comp...

6y ago

SCEN3RY

https://youtu.be/qRp9r8izmRk https://youtu.be/uvFLJWYHCDs Arum and Crawford said it alright that's fair. I still don't think anyone should rely on that bnews24. I don't think i believe crawford. it's certainly a stupid move with all the business still at 147 and just the other day he was on espn saying his goal is to unify.

6y ago

ElMalo

Canelo would take that fight in a heartbeat! Bud would get no credit for taking Alvarez to school and boxing his ears off, everyone would say Canelo was weight drained and hurt from weight jumping! Crawford by Unanimous Decision in a 8-4 type of fight! Just stick and move LMAO, the hate Nelo gets is in full force 😂

6y ago

Squ9633redCircle34

6y ago

JohnCastellanos

sounds like he wants to move up and face a similar level of comp that hes fighting now huh? yeah sort of.... i mean heck...id love to see him move up and fight jermall and/or andrade.....they are both taller by a good margin but all of their reaches are similar Yeah absolutely I would love those fights before a gran finale vs Canelo

6y ago

RGJTMMRDCMJRJSM

The new Kell Brook Brook was also 36-0 before moving up to fight Golovkin.

6y ago

kushking

By Dean Berman Terence Crawford (35-0, 26 KOs) Demetrius Andrade CRAWFORD IN SAME POSITION PAUL WILLIAMS WAS Years ago Paul Williams was an avoided welterweight, who was unable to get fights against the big names like Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao. As a result of his problems getting fights at 154, the lanky 6’1″ southpaw Williams moved up to 154, and found success before his career ended prematurely in a motorcycle accident. Crawford will be looking to move up two weight classes, which is going to be difficult for him. He’ll have a good shot at winning a belt in that weight class against Murata and Andrade. From Boxing News 24 LMAO! You must be new to Boxing sites because it's widely accepted that the site your quoting this from is the furthest thing from a credible site in any way shape or form & the writers as the one you quoted are all pen names of the same queef called Dan Ambrose. To top it off if that wasn't enough reason to just disregard this completely its as obvious as can be that Crawford is saying all of this sarcastically in response to his erroneously claiming recently that hes p4p king & that he somehow has fought better opponents to Canelo. Crawford was recently claiming that Canelo moving up multiple weight classes is not as impressive as him beating "undefeated jeff Horn":pat:. To the op no offense,but you should now know better in the future than to listen to anything from that most pathetic of all boxing troll sites. That site also allows anyone to submit fanboi shtpieces like the "article" you just referenced which is why its even more non credible. Crawford is CLEARLY saying all of this sarcastically as a lame attempt to discredit Canelo jumping 2 divisions to ko kov; because that was recently what he was downplaying as unimpressive compared to Khan/Horn/1 leg Benavidez etc..in order to say hes p4p king

6y ago

bluebeam

He’s pretending to use common sense but he’s missing the whole point and sounding like a flip flop! If you really want to move up and prove your P4P numero uno then fight Canelo! If not then shut up mf Canelo has to be willing to come back to 160. And if he's willing to fight bud at 160, why not Charlo or Andrade?

6y ago

bluebeam

fake news. boxingnews(24) writes fake biased articles and insert quotes that were never spoken. stop giving them the clicks they're baiting you into. https://youtu.be/qRp9r8izmRk https://youtu.be/uvFLJWYHCDs Arum and Crawford said it

6y ago

mxtali

just seems silly to me i understand hes frustrated....but if spence comes back and is ok and keeps winning that fight WILL happen....he just need more patience.....once spence gets his hands on that 3rd belt its on...or if someone takes the two off him and gets the other one he can fight that guy......basically the pbc has/had a bunch of good names/talent and they are waiting for them to sort themselves all out.....thurman got injured so it took more time....then pac joined the scene and added another body to the mix......crawford just need a little more patience.... hes waited this long....why stop now? Probablybc he’s 32 and he doesn’t want to wait until he’s 34 to have his defining fight.

6y ago