Terence Allan Crawford (born September 28, 1987) is an American professional boxer. He is a former world champion in two weight classes, having held the WBO, Ring magazine and lineal lightweight titles from 2014 to 2015; and the unified WBA (Super), WBC, IBF, WBO, Ring and lineal light welterweight titles between 2015 and 2017.
In August 2017, Crawford had a short reign as the undisputed light welterweight champion, and was the most recent undisputed champion in the division since Kostya Tszyu in 2004. Crawford is also the most recent male boxer to simultaneously hold all four major world titles in boxing (WBA, WBC, IBF, and WBO) since Jermain Taylor in 2005, and is one of only four boxers in history to do so after Taylor, Bernard Hopkins, and Cecilia Brækhus.
As of February 2018, Crawford is ranked as the world's best active boxer, pound for pound, by the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, second by The Ring, third by ESPN, and fourth by BoxRec. He was named Fighter of the Year by the Boxing Writers Association of America in 2014, and by ESPN in 2014 and 2017.
Stylistically, Crawford is known for his exceptionally fast hand speed, punching power and defensive skills, as well as his ability to comfortably switch hit from orthodox to southpaw.
Video Terence Crawford
Amateur career
Crawford took up boxing at the age of seven. He fought 70 official amateur bouts, losing only 12 times. As an amateur, he defeated future world champions Mikey Garcia and Danny García. After winning three amateur tournaments shortly before the 2008 Olympics, he became the highest-ranked lightweight in the US. However, losses to boxers like Sadam Ali would thwart his Olympic ambitions.
Amateur achievements
- 2006 National PAL Championships, 132 lbs - gold medalist
- 2006 Blue & Gold National Championships, 132 lbs - gold medalist
- 2007 U.S. Pan American Games Box-Offs, 132 lbs - gold medalist
Maps Terence Crawford
Professional career
Lightweight
Early career
Crawford made his professional debut on March 14, 2008, knocking out Brian Cummings in round 1. He compiled a record of 19-0 with 15 wins by way of knockout against largely unheralded opposition.
Crawford had his first notable bout on the undercard of the second fight between Brandon Rios and Mike Alvarado, against former WBO lightweight champion Breidis Prescott. Prescott was originally scheduled to face WBA light welterweight champion Khabib Allakhverdiev, who withdrew with an injured elbow. Crawford was originally supposed to meet Robert Osiobe on the same card, but accepted the offer to fill in for Allakhverdiev on three-days notice. Crawford nevertheless outboxed the hard hitting Colombian and secured a unanimous decision victory. Crawford received a purse of $125,000, whilst Prescott received $50,000. This was the first time Crawford fought a 10-round fight and his first time fighting at the 140 lb. limit.
Crawford fought Alejandro Sanabria on June 15, 2013. Held at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas, USA, the fight served as an eliminator for the WBO world lightweight title and was also for the vacant WBO NABO lightweight title. In the 6th round, Crawford landed a devastating left hook, sending Sanabria to the canvas. Though Sanabria was able to return to his feet within the count, the fight was waved off by referee Laurence Cole, giving Crawford a TKO victory.
Crawford vs. Klimov
On August 21, 2013 it was announced that Crawford would fight undefeated Russian boxer and WBO #12 ranked Andrey Klimov in another elimination bout, which would see the winner challenge WBO champion Ricky Burns. The fight was scheduled for 10 rounds and took place on the undercard of Miguel Cotto vs. Delvin Rodriguez fight card on HBO at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida on October 5. Klimov was coming off a majority decision win over fringe contender John Molina Jr. in June 2013. Crawford outclassed and outpointed Klimov, handing him his first defeat as a professional in a unanimous decision win. After 10 rounds, all three judges' scored the fight 100-90 in Crawford's favour. There was lack of action as Klimov failed to impress and go in for any offence. According to CompuBox stats, Crawford landed 192 of 604 punches (32%), whilst Klimov landed just 57 of 290 (20%). In the post fight, Crawford spoke on how he went in got the job done, "I outboxed him. It was easy all night long. I thought I was hurting him all night long. I was never in any trouble and I thought he was in trouble." Due to Klimov's lack of action, it prompted a member of his team to call him a 'coward' after round 8 in the corner. Klimov began to come forward and exchange more after round 9, but had no chance of winning without a knockout.
Crawford vs. Burns
Crawford traveled to Scotland five months later to take on 30 year old Ricky Burns for the WBO lightweight title on March 1, 2014. Hearn was pleased to bring the fight to Scotland, and admitted it was Burns' toughest fight to date. Crawford easily won the fight, boxing well on the outside and picking his shots against the over-matched but game Burns, winning his first world title. The judges' scored the fight 117-111, 116-112 and 116-112 unanimously in favour of Crawford. Burns praised Crawford after the fight, simply stating, "The better man won." Over the 12 rounds, Crawford was credited to landing 213 of 811 punches thrown (26%) but landed 41% of his power punches. Burns landed 76 of his 552 thrown (14%) and landed no more than 7 power punches per round.
Crawford vs. Gamboa
Fighting for the first time as a professional in his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska, Crawford made his first title defense against 2004 Cuban Olympic gold medalist and former unified featherweight titleholder Yuriorkis Gamboa, who was a slight favourite going into the fight. This was only the second title fight ever held in Omaha, the first being in 1972, when heavyweight champion Joe Frazier defeated the Omaha/Council Bluffs product Ron Stander by 4th-round TKO. Gamboa entered having not fought in over a year. He was arrested in November for two misdemeanor battery charges for domestic violence and also during that span was implicated in the Biogenesis performance-enhancing drug scandal that mainly engulfed Major League Baseball. The fight was announced on May 6 and took place at the CenturyLink Center on June 28, 2014. Crawford weighed in 134.8 pounds, slightly heavier than Gamboa at 134.4 pounds.
Gamboa won the early rounds using his speed advantage, but Crawford eventually adjusted, knocking Gamboa down once in the 5th round, again in the 8th, and finally twice in the 9th to secure a TKO win in front of 10,943 screaming hometown fans. Crawford stated after the fight "I was warming up, getting used to his style in the first couple of rounds. I just wanted to test him out, I felt like I could make an adjustment with my jab, because he's always dropping his left hand. I thought I could get him with my jab in the southpaw stance." At the time of stoppage, Crawford was ahead 78-72, 78-72, 77-73 on the judges' scorecards. In an interview in July 2016, Crawford stated that Gamboa was still his toughest fight to date.
Crawford vs. Beltran
Held in front of 11,127 at The CenturyLink Center in Omaha, Nebraska, Crawford made his second defense of the WBO title against The Ring magazine #1 contender Ray Beltran on November 29, 2014. The winner of the bout would become The Ring's lightweight champion. Crawford retained his world title earning a 12-round unanimous decision win. The final judges scorecards read 119-109 (twice) and 120-108 all in favour of Crawford. After the fight, Crawford announced his intentions to leave the lightweight division to fight as a light welterweight. The fight averaged averaged 836,000 viewers on HBO and peaked at 936,000 viewers. It was considered a disappointment because the co-feature which saw Evgeny Gradovich draw with Jayson Velez drew an average 865,000 viewers and peaked just over 1 million.
Crawford was named the 2014 'Fighter of the Year' by ESPN and the Boxing Writers Association of America, after dethroning Burns and becoming lineal lightweight champion.
Light welterweight
Crawford vs. Dulorme
On March 6, 2015 ESPN reported that Crawford would debut as a light welterweight, challenging for the vacant WBO title at the College Park Center in Arlington, Texas against 25 year old Thomas Dulorme on April 18. At the press conference, Crawford told Dulorme, "Come prepared because I am going to be ready. [The fans] should expect a spectacular victory. This is my second world title at a different weight, and I am really going to be up for it. I will be prepared. I am always ready and prepared for any fight." The fight was stopped after Dulorme was knocked down three times in the 6th round, granting Crawford a TKO victory and the WBO title. Dulorme started off aggressive, but was unable to land much. Crawford remained defensive, picking his shots and working the distance. Referee Rafael Ramos stopped the fight at 1 minute, 51 seconds of the round. The fight averaged 1.004 million viewers on HBO.
Crawford vs. Jean, Lundy
Top Rank announced on August 20 that Crawford would make his first defence at CenturyLink Center, Nebraska on October 24 against Montreal based 33 year old contender Dierry Jean. Jean's only loss as professional came in 2014 against light welterweight titlist Lamont Peterson, in Peterson's hometown of Washington, D.C.. After the sole loss, Jean dropped down to lightweight were he won four fights in a row. With a dominant performance that mixed superlative boxing skills with crunching power, Crawford knocked out Jean in the 10th round to retain the WBO light welterweight title in front of 11,020 hometown fans. Crawford landed 169 total punches out of 533 thrown, and an impressive 40 percent of his power shots. Over the last three rounds, Crawford out-landed Jean 59 to 9. After the fight, Crawford stated that he was ready for former 8-division world champion Manny Pacquiao, "I'm ready. Bob [Arum], make it happen. I'm ready. I'm gonna let my handlers, (co-managers) Cameron Dunkin and Brian McIntyre, talk to Bob Arum and Team Pacquiao, and let's see if we can make it happen." Crawford was ahead on all three judges scorecards at the time of stoppage (89-80, 90-79 twice). The fight was a success on HBO, drawing an average of 1.071 million viewers and peaked at 1.2 million.
His next fight took place before a sellout crowd of 5,092 at the Theater of Madison Square Garden on February 27, 2016 against Hank Lundy. Crawford successfully defended his light welterweight championship with a fifth-round TKO of Lundy. Crawford connected with 89 of 247 punches (36%), compared to 47 of 411 for Lundy (22%). Lundy won a fast-paced first round. Crawford then overwhelmed him with head and body punches which found the mark by volume and accuracy. Lundy went down in a corner in the fifth round. He beat the count, but the bout was soon stopped by referee Steve Willis at 2 minutes, 9 seconds. Crawford spoke out about his feud with Lundy on social media, "He and I had gone back and forth on Twitter for like a year. I just wanted to shut him up for good." Crawford earned $1.21 million and Lundy earned a $150,000 purse. Although there was a lot of tension pre-fight, Lundy approached Crawford after the fight and showed respect. The fight averaged 982,000 viewers on HBO and peaked just over 1 million viewers.
Crawford vs. Postol
On May 3, 2016 it was finally confirmed that Crawford and Viktor Postol had officially signed a contract for the highly anticipated light welterweight unification fight on July 23 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Both fighters entered the ring with a matched record of 28 wins, no losses. Both men also entered the MGM Grand Garden Arena for the first time in their respective careers. Crawford won by unanimous decision and unified two light welterweight world titles before a crowd of 7,027. Crawford also claimed the vacant Lineal and The Ring Magazine titles. Crawford scored two flash knockdowns in the fifth round, on going away on all three scorecards 118-107, 118-107 and 117-108. ESPN.com also scored the fight 118-107 for Crawford. Postol resorted to rabbit punching in the 11th round. He nailed Crawford with a right hand behind the head, for which Postol was penalized one point, adding to Crawford's advantage. With the victory, Crawford staked his indisputable claim to division supremacy and set himself up for bigger fights, possibly against a returning Manny Pacquiao. Over 12 rounds, Crawford landed 141 of his 388 punches thrown (36%), and Postol landed 83 of 244 thrown (34%).
In the post-fight, Postol praised Crawford, saying "I thought it was a good fight between two technicians, but he was quicker than me. He is one of the best fighters in the world. I just didn't have the answers for him." Crawford also praised his trainer Brian McIntyre, "Freddie Roach and Postol said that Freddie would outcoach my coach, but you tell 'em who got outcoached tonight." McIntyre revealed the plan was to keep Postol moving, which would have eliminated his jab and right hand. Crawford's purse for the fight was $1.3 million. Postol earned $675,000 for his part. Some sources stated the fight generated 50,000 PPV buys on HBO. A replay was shown later in the week and drew 378,000, also considered a weak number.
Crawford vs. Molina
Crawford was not due to fight next until 2017, however due to the Golovkin-Jacobs fight being postponed to early 2017, this freed up the December 10 date for HBO. Arum confirmed Crawford would take the date and look at potential opponents, including the then world titleholder Eduard Troyanovsky and Antonio Orozco. Arum announced a deal was in place for a fight between Crawford and 33 year old contender John Molina Jr. on December 10, 2016 at Crawford's hometown at CenturyLink Center in Omaha, Nebraska. Molina previously defeated Russian contender Ruslan Provodnikov in a 12-round unanimous decision in June 2016, where he claimed the vacant WBO International light welterweight title. Molina weighed 144lb at the official weigh-in which meant he lost the right to fight for Crawford's world titles. Had Crawford lost the fight, he would have lost his belts. For the fight to go ahead, Molina gave $400,000 of his purse to Crawford, adding to his already agreed purse of $1.5m.
Crawford held onto his titles in stopping Molina in the 8th round in front of a large home crowd in Omaha. Crawford moved around the ring most of the fight, jabbing, holding and pot shotting an out of shape Molina. In round 8, Crawford threw a flurry of shots that hurt Molina. Crawford then hit Molina with three right hands to the head and a right to the body, at which point referee Mark Nelson halted the fight. In the post fight interview, Crawford felt he should be the 2016 'Fighter of the Year' for his wins over Molina, Hank Lundy and Viktor Postol, "I feel like I got it. I just have to wait until the results come in." Crawford also reiterated his desire to unify the division before a possible move up to welterweight. Crawford landed 184 punches from 419 thrown, Molina landed 41 of 287 thrown, a 14-percent connect rate. The fight drew an average 806,000 viewers and peaked at 871,000 viewers on HBO.
Crawford vs. Diaz
Bob Arum spoke to ESPN in early February 2017 about Crawford's next defence and possible opponents. He said that HBO had set a May 20 date for the fight and the venue would most likely be in Crawford's hometown, Omaha. Mexican boxer Antonio Orozco, one of Crawford's mandatory challengers and 2008 Olympics light welterweight gold medalist Felix Diaz, who had been calling out Crawford, were the names mentioned. He went on to explain how Orozco's promoters seemed to have little interest in the fight. Lou DiBella, promoter of Diaz, was eager to make a fight happen. Arum spoke to The Ring on March 1 saying that Crawford's opponent had been narrowed down to Felix Diaz or Adrian Granados. Amir Imam, ranked number 1 by WBC at 140 was also in the mix, but Arum said that he found it difficult to make a deal with his promoter, Don King. Terms were finally agreed on March 22 for Crawford vs. Diaz at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey on May 20. Contracts were to be signed shortly after. A week after the fight was announced, the location was changed. The new venue was confirmed to be Madison Square Garden in New York. This was the first time Crawford fought at the arena.
In front of a crowd of 8,026, Crawford retained his world titles after a dominating performance, which forced Diaz's trainer, Joel Diaz to stop the fight after round 10. Towards the end, Diaz did close to nothing, leaning against the ropes. This was mostly due to his vision, as his right eye was nearly closed and his left eye was also badly swollen. Crawford used his jab for most of the fight, and used it to control the pace and help him move around the ring in his southpaw stance. Joel Diaz said in the post-fight that he had pulled his fighter out because he was taking too much punishment. Also in the post-fight, Crawford said, "It's not up to me. But everybody wants to know who's the next guy that Terence Crawford wants to fight. I'll fight anybody. It doesn't matter who it is." He then called out Keith Thurman. Promoter Bob Arum mentioned Crawford would likely fight again in the summer, against Julius Indongo, where the winner would be crowned the undisputed world champion.
According to CompuBox punch stats, Crawford landed 193 of his 250 punches thrown (37.1%). In that figure, he landed 59.1% of his power punches (139 of 235 thrown). Diaz landed 69 of 346 (19.9%). At the time of stoppage, judges Glenn Feldman and Steve Weisfeld had it 100-90 and judge Julie Lederman had the score 99-91, all in favour of Crawford. According to Nielsen, the fight averaged 961,000 viewers on HBO's "World Championship Boxing" and peaked at 1.036m viewers. It was the most viewed fight on HBO so far in 2017.
Crawford vs. Indongo
On July 1, 2017 Top Rank announced that a light welterweight unification fight between Crawford, and WBA (Unified) and IBF champion Julius Indongo was agreed upon to take place on August 19 at the Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Nebraska live on ESPN in US and Sky Sports in the UK. The projected unification of every major world title in boxing (WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO, The Ring, and lineal) will determine the light welterweight division's first undisputed champion since Kostya Tszyu in 2004, and the first time all the aforementioned titles have been at stake in a single fight since Bernard Hopkins vs. Jermain Taylor in 2005. Both fighters paid over $100,000 US dollars in sanctioning fees. Crawford entered the fight as a heavy favourite to win.
In front of a home crowd of 12,121, Crawford became the undisputed champion at light welterweight after knocking out Indongo in round 3. The final punch was a well placed left hook to the right side of the body, which immediately dropped Indongo. Referee Jack Reiss counted to 10 and promptly called an end after 1 minute and 38 seconds. Indongo also touched the canvas during round 1, but the referee ruled it a slip. Additionally, Indongo was knocked down and received a count after a left hand from Crawford during round 2.
According to CompuBox stats, Crawford landed 26 of his 75 punches thrown (35%), while Indongo landed 13 of 74 thrown (18%). Both boxers earned an undisclosed 7-figure purse. Following the fight, Indongo stated "When he hit me like that, my mind was gone" about Crawford's body shot. Crawford stated that he had yet to make a decision on the next step in his career but there was speculation about him moving up to the welterweight division or defending his light welterweight titles against Mikey Garcia. The card averaged 965,000 viewers on ESPN.
Mere days after the fight, the IBF ordered a fight between Crawford and their mandatory challenger, Sergey Lipinets. Lipinets was named Indongo's mandatory challenger on December 2016, but Indongo was given an exception to allow the unification fight with Crawford to happen. Lipinets stated that the IBF title was "stolen from him". As Crawford didn't plan to return to the ring before the IBF's deadline, he vacated the IBF title just 11 days after defeating Indongo. The IBF ordered Lipinets to face Akihiro Kondo for their vacant title.
On August 31, the WBA Championships Committee revealed that they had elevated Crawford to 'Super' champion. Article C18 of the WBA's rules stated that as Crawford holds all major titles at light welterweight, he could be elevated and deemed a 'Super' champion. WBA, however claimed to hold on to their policy of having only one champion per weight category and insisted an interim or regular title would not be created.
Welterweight
On October 26, 2017 Crawford officially vacated his WBO title to move up to the welterweight division, The WBO announced Crawford as the mandatory challenger to their titleholder Jeff Horn. With Horn scheduled to make a voluntary defence in December 2017 against British boxer Gary Corcoran, Crawford would not fight again in 2017. The winner of Horn vs. Cocoran was then ordered to schedule a fight against Crawford within 90 days. Arum stated he had dates in March and April 2018 on hold.
Crawford vs. Horn
When Horn successfully made a voluntary defence of his WBO welterweight title by stopping Gary Corcoran, this set up the fight between Crawford and Horn. Following his win, Horn was challenged to a big money fight at light middleweight by 42 year old Anthony Mundine, before eventually defending his WBO title against Crawford. Horn admitted his interest in the fight where he would be seeing a purse of around $2 million. His trainer, Johnny Lewis, was also very much interested in the Mundine fight. On January 10, 2018 it was confirmed that all terms had been agreed upon for Horn to defend the WBO title in a mandatory defence against Crawford, after renegotiating the purses. The fight was being slated for April 21, 2018 at the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada. On January 17, Arum stated the fight would likely take place at Madison Square Garden as there was no availability in Las Vegas for the dates required. In February, Arum claimed that due to other boxing events taking place around New York in April, the Crawford vs. Horn bout will take place in Las Vegas instead.
Outside of boxing
On September 21, 2016 Crawford was found guilty of two counts dating back to April, when he turned himself into the police. He was charged for theft of services, criminal mischief, third-degree assault and trespassing. The assault and theft charges were later dropped. A sentence hearing date was set for December 15. The incident took place at a local car body shop. Crawford had made a partial payment, but refused to pay the remainder after he wasn't satisfied with the work being done and amount being charged. He started to lower the car himself, damaging the hydraulic lift. At the hearing, Crawford was sentenced to 90 days in jail, but would be serving 53 days. Crawford was incarcerated for only 8 hours, before being released after his attorney posted a $10,000 bond.
Professional boxing record
Pay-per-view bouts
See also
- List of lightweight boxing champions
- List of light welterweight boxing champions
- List of WBA world champions
- List of WBC world champions
- List of IBF world champions
- List of WBO world champions
- List of The Ring world champions
- List of undisputed boxing champions
- List of lineal boxing world champions
Notes
References
External links
- Professional boxing record for Terence Crawford from BoxRec
- Terence Crawford profile at Top Rank
- Terence Crawford profile at HBO
- Terence Crawford profile at Cyber Boxing Zone
Source of article : Wikipedia
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