Six years after his professional debut, Crawford went across the pond to defeat Ricky Burns for the WBO lightweight title. A vicious firefight with Yuriorkis Gamboa and subsequent rout of Raymundo Beltran followed, giving him a head of steam as he took his talents to 140 and swiftly dispatched Thomas Dulorme for another WBO title.
He soon added the WBC belt to his collection with a similarly dominant performance against Viktor Postol, setting the stage for his first undisputed title fight against WBA/IBF champ Julius Indongo 13 months later. Despite Indongo entering on the heels of a shocking knockout of Eduard Troyanovsky and subsequent victory over the aforementioned Burns, Crawford needed less than nine minutes to put the Namibian away and establish total dominance of the division.
That settled, Crawford jumped to 147 and immediately picked up a third WBO belt at Jeff Horn’s expense. His five-year, seven-fight welterweight tenure saw him beat the likes of Amir Khan, Egidijus Kavaliauskas, Kell Brook, and Shawn Porter before culminating in an absolute beatdown of the only man though to be his equal, Errol Spence Jr.
After a pit stop at 154 to hand Israil Madrimov his first pro loss and pick up a secondary title, Crawford jumped two more divisions to challenge undisputed super middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. Defying the public consensus that he’d bitten off more than he could chew, Crawford handily outboxed the Mexican legend to take home a decision far more one-sided than the scorecards would suggest.
Crawford definitely looked like he still had plenty to give the sport, but I’m not going to knock someone for hanging them up while his faculties are still intact, especially with such an incredible body of work. We’ll see if he stays away; if so, he ends what’s assuredly a first-ballot Hall of Fame career on the highest note possible.
As for his now-vacant titles, the WBC already ordered Christian Mbilli to fight Hamzah Sheeraz for their slice of the pie. Alvarez is at or near the top of every sanctioning body’s top 15, but is apparently out of action until this coming September. Assuming they go by the current rankings and don’t wait for him, the title picture looks like:
WBA: Interim champion Jose Armando Resendiz either upgraded or ordered to fight Bektemir Melikuziev.
WBO: With no. 2 Hamzah Sheeraz occupied, Diego Pacheco vs Jacob Bank would be in play if Bank beats William Scull next month.
IBF: Osleys Iglesias is owed a shot, presumably against Jaime Munguia or Callum Simpson.
