The 4 Best Opponents for Terence Crawford's Next Fight
It's a good day to be Terence Crawford.
The 35-year-old from Omaha, Nebraska climbed his career's highest competitive mountain as Saturday night turned into Sunday morning, dropping fellow champ Errol Spence Jr. three times on the way to a ninth-round TKO in their welterweight unification bout in Las Vegas.
The win added the IBF, WBA and WBC straps to the WBO belt with which Crawford had arrived after winning it in 2018 and defending six times by stoppage, He's now 40-0 with 31 KOs since debuting in 2008 and has claimed titles at 135, 140 and 147 pounds.
The defeat of Spence made him the first male fighter in the four-belt era to earn undisputed status at two weights and predictably prompted fans, media members and other interested parties to consider where the world's top pound-for-pound fighter might go next.
The B/R combat sports team got in on the post-fight aftermath, too, and came up with a list of four fighters who'd make the most sense as Crawford ponders his next move. Take a look at what we came up with and feel free to drop a thought of your own in the comments.
Jaron Ennis
1 of 4
Should he stay or should he go?
One thing is clear, Crawford will not be without options whether he chooses to remain at 147 pounds to defend his cache of new jewelry or climbs toward new challenges at 154.
Jaron Ennis is one man who'll be campaigning for the former option.
Ennis is a 26-year-old Philadelphian who's been fighting at or near the welterweight limit for seven years while running up a 31-0 record that's included 28 KOs.
He's beaten a laundry list of less-than-familiar foes as he's climbed toward relevance, but still cemented his status as the IBF's top contender with a 10th-round stoppage of once-beaten Colombian slugger Roiman Villa at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City in early July.
It was his 20th KO in his last 21 fights (excluding a no-contest in 2020), a finishing streak in which he's needed only 58 total rounds—an average of 2.9 per fight.
Which means, in North Philly basketball parlance...he's got next.
"I believe I'm the best option," Ennis told TMZ Sports. "I feel like everybody wants to see me versus (Crawford). I don't think they want to see nobody else fight (him)."
Errol Spence Jr.
2 of 4
If you dig it, do it. And if you really dig it, do it twice.
Of course, it sort of applies if you're a fighter seeking to avenge defeat, too.
So while Errol Spence Jr. certainly didn't dig the comprehensive beating from Crawford across nine rounds in the Nevada desert on Saturday night, it's in his competitive best interest—read: money-making opportunity—to reengage his rival as soon as possible.
The showdown with Crawford, for which both fighters earned eight-figure purses, included a unique contractual clause in which the loser could call for a rematch while the winner would hold the high ground in deciding at which weight class the sequel would occur.
Spence told Showtime's Jim Gray that he definitely wanted to fight Crawford again before the end of 2023 and added that he hoped his rival would agree to the idea of doing it at 154.
Spence has long struggled to make 147 pounds.
And though he didn't immediately use it as an excuse for Saturday's rout, it's reasonable to think he'd have a better chance to reverse the result if the boundaries were changed.
"Hell yeah, we got to do it again," Spence said after the fight.
"I'm going to be a lot better. It's going to be a lot closer."
Jermell Charlo
3 of 4
For the record, Jermell Charlo is a four-belt champ at 154 pounds.
He's held one title or another in the weight class for all but 12 months since the spring of 2016 and consolidated the claim with a 10th-round KO of Brian Castano 14 months ago in metropolitan Los Angeles.
So the idea that he and Crawford—who may prowl for an unprecedented third undisputed divisional championship—could one day meet for all the super welterweight/junior middleweight hardware is hardly a stretch to the imagination.
Of course, Charlo has a bit of work to do in the meantime.
He was plucked from the substitute heap by Canelo Alvarez when the Mexican's would-be match with Charlo's twin brother, Jermall, fell through, and he'll vie for undisputed status at 168 pounds in Las Vegas on September 30.
Alvarez is a -425 favorite to defend his titles, which would presumably mean Charlo, a 33-year-old based in Houston, could return to his native weight to take up a challenge from Crawford that had been issued long before Saturday's Spence stoppage.
In fact, Crawford climbed the ropes after referee Harvey Dock intervened and the winner stared directly at Charlo, who was seated at ringside. Charlo is also trained by Derrick James, who worked with Spence and was particularly vocal during fight week.
"For some odd reason," Crawford said in May on the Million Dollaz Worth of Game podcast, "once I moved up in weight and I started calling out Errol Spence, that's his stablemate, (Charlo) jumped in it. I'm like, 'Dude, Mind your business. Stay on the sidelines.
"'You can be like Spence, my guy. When I beat him, I'm coming to see you.'"
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Tim Tszyu
4 of 4
You know what? If all else fails, Tim Tszyu isn't your worst option.
The 28-year-old Australian is an unbeaten 154-pounder who's won 23 fights, stopped 17 opponents, holds the WBO's admittedly dubious interim championship in the weight class and is the son of Hall of Famer and ex-pound-for-pound king Kostya Tszyu.
And he's ambitious, too.
Tszyu was in line to face the aforementioned Jermell Charlo before the Texan won the Canelo sweepstakes earlier this summer, and he's on record suggesting he'll wind up as "the face of boxing worldwide" by this time next year.
He defeated Carlos Ocampo in just 77 seconds in his last fight in mid June.
What it could mean for Crawford—whether Charlo beats Alvarez or simply decides to stay at 168 or the neighborhood after their fight—is that a would-be rise to 154 could mean an initial title try opposite Tszyu rather than the reigning incumbent.
Tszyu, for his Down Under sake, is all over it.
"If I get to fight Terence Crawford, that's cracker, man," he said. "That's sick."
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