I hope you enjoyed Terence Crawford’s win over Israil Madrimov in August. If Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn is correct, it’ll be the last time you see the future Hall-of-Famer box professionally.
Hearn has told multiple journalists that he doesn’t think Crawford will fight again. Hearn initially told Marcos Villegas of FightHub TV that he thought Crawford was done unless he could get the fight with Canelo Alvarez.
Hearn doubled down on the concept, speaking to TalkSport’s Michael Benson.
“I don’t think Crawford will fight again, because I think he’s made really solid money in his last couple of fights,” Hearn said. “I don’t think he wants to fight Vergil Ortiz or Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis. I think the only way Crawford will fight again is Canelo Alvarez because he’s got used to that pay. He probably thinks he’ll fight again, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t. So inactive as well. I think he’s happy to sit out until the end of next year. He’ll be just waiting [for] if the Canelo fight comes up.”
Crawford didn’t look like a fighter who had his last fight when he won a unanimous decision over Madrimov to capture a world title in his fourth weight class. However, Hearn is correct; Crawford has gotten used to making big money for his fights, and he’s far too established to fight for anything below what he knows is his worth.
When I spoke to Crawford in July, he made it clear that he would be calculated when making any decisions on his opponents moving forward.
“We all want to be crowd pleasers,” Crawford said during our interview. “Because the more you please the crowd the more your name gets recognition, the more that you know people get to talking about you and the more your value evolves. But at the same time, look at those fighters that was crowd-pleasers and was trying to do everything for a crowd, and they lost their life or they got in a bad injury and they couldn’t box anymore. Where’s all those crowd-pleasing people that was cheering those fighters on and this fighter can’t fight no more and that’s hospitalized?”
Crawford is a fighter’s fighter, but he has matured and shows a deeper understanding of the business side of the sport.
“People really get battered and hurt in boxing,” Crawford said. “Then when you see those fighters years after, they didn’t retire when they should have, and they couldn’t talk a sentence or comprehend anything, or then lost a whole mint of money because of bad investments, or they wasn’t smart enough to invest their money in anything; Now what, where’s all those crowd-pleasing people that was chanting this fighter on once upon a time? It’s out with the and in with the new. ‘Oh he’s washed up.’ That’s what they say, ‘Oh he’s washed up. He’s he’s nothing.’ We go on to this guy. So you got to think about things like that.”
Here is a look at that interview with Crawford:
A fight with Ortiz makes sense for Crawford from a pure boxing standpoint, but Bud doesn’t carry the burden of proving anything to purists or casuals. He’s already secured a spot amongst the greatest in boxing history.
If he chooses to ride off into the sunset, his career accomplishments and legacy would be a mix of Andre Ward and Floyd Mayweather Jr. Crawford’s 41-0 record with 31 KOs is just as impressive as Mayweather’s 50-0. He doesn’t appear to be headed for a situation that requires him to continue to fight to maintain his lifestyle.
That comparison puts him in the company of Ward, who has seemingly set himself up for prosperity well after his boxing career. In addition, Ward is doing excellent work as the new Chief Content Officer for All the Smoke Productions, where he hosts a weekly podcast and leads original programming development and company direction.
If Crawford’s legacy and future fall somewhere between Mayweather and Ward, that sounds like a winning formula. Hardcore fight fans would love to see Crawford vs. Canelo or even Crawford vs. Ennis or Ortiz.
However, if Hearn’s prediction is right and not a poke to manipulate Crawford into fighting Ennis–who Hearn promotes, this is clear: we as the boxing community were privileged to see an all-time great compete and leave the sport with all his faculties intact, a testament to his skill and foresight.
