The million-dollar question surrounding
Terence Crawford is: What's next?
Crawford (42-0, 31 KOs) is fresh off a convincing
unanimous decision win against
Canelo Alvarez last month in Las Vegas. With the career-best victory, Crawford became the undisputed super middleweight king, a five-division champion, a three-weight undisputed champion, and the pound-for-pound king of the sport.
Crawford has accumulated titles at 135, 140, 147, 154, and 168 throughout his illustrious 17-year career, but not at 160 pounds. At the age of 38, the Nebraska native has left the door open for both retirement and the idea of taking on another desirable and legacy-defining challenge.
Hall of Fame fighter
Roy Jones Jr. – who picked Crawford to beat Alvarez before the fight – says Crawford should pursue a championship at middleweight and not a rematch against the Mexican superstar, if it’s presented.
“I think he should go down and win a title at 160, and close it off – that's fire,” Jones told The Ring. “[I’m] not really [interested in the rematch]. Canelo can do anything he wants to. He's done so much already. There's really not much left for him to do. Canelo can probably either take the rematch or close the door because Canelo has done way more than enough.”
Crawford has already stated that
he won’t be fighting at 154 pounds anymore or make an improbable light heavyweight run. And he hasn’t ruled out the possibility of zeroing in on a 160-pound champion sometime next year.
The 160-pound picture currently features The Ring’s No. 1 middleweight
Janibek Alimkhnaulay (17-0, 12 KOs) as the IBF and WBO champion,
Erislandy Lara (31-3-3, 19 KOs) as the WBA beltholder, and
Carlos Adames (24-1-1, 18 KOs) as the WBC champion.
Alimkhnaulay and Lara are set to square off in a title unification fight on December 6.
Will Crawford be inclined to take on the winner and the chance to collect three more belts at once?
The answer to the million-dollar question is forthcoming.
Manouk Akopyan is The Ring’s lead writer. Follow him on X and Instagram: @ManoukAkopyan.