Mauricio Sulaiman has made a surprise statement regarding Crawford’s retirement.
There is little doubt that Terence Crawford was one of the best fighters of the modern era. The American blended skill, power, and dominance together in a way that had some fans comparing him to the greatest pugilists of all time.
He is part of a very select few who won major world titles in five different divisions, and he is one of only two men in history to become a three-weight undisputed champion (the other being the fabled Henry Armstrong).
Plenty in the sport were convinced of Crawford’s brilliance long before his destruction of Errol Spence Jr., but it was after that 2023 drubbing that most in boxing really started to consider him as an all-time great.
And after Crawford defeated Canelo Álvarez to lift all the 168-pound straps in September, it convinced even more dissenters that when it came to the man known as “Bud”, the term “special” didn’t even come close to cutting it.
Crawford would call it a day in December, leaving the sport behind with a dazzling, diamond-encrusted 42-0 record. And it was that that separated him from the vast, vast majority of history’s pugilists in yet another way: He retired at the top and didn’t carry on for too long.
And while there were those who would have liked a sixth divisional run at middleweight, most felt that Crawford walked away at exactly the right time.
One man who would argue to the contrary, however, is Mauricio Sulaiman, president of the World Boxing Council.
In a new interview with Tiempo Extra, the WBC boss made a shocking statement while discussing Canelo Álvarez’s planned September bout, saying, “Fight in September for the world title. He [Canelo] has many options: [David] Benavidez, [Jermell] Charlo, a rematch with Crawford–who retired cowardly–[Dmitry] Bivol, and [Artur] Beterbiev. He is in a position where he can choose.”
Sulaiman’s comment likely refers to Crawford decision in December to not pay the WBC’s sanctioning fees, leading him to be stripped of the organisation’s title less than two months after winning it.
Still, this arrives as a surprise to many, and it will be intriguing to see if this story develops any further.
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