{"id":329930,"date":"2025-12-05T18:31:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T18:31:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/329930\/"},"modified":"2025-12-05T18:31:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T18:31:07","slug":"terence-crawford-called-out-to-fight-in-sixth-weight-class-against-boxings-oldest-world-champion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/329930\/","title":{"rendered":"Terence Crawford called out to fight in sixth weight class against boxing’s oldest world champion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Terence Crawford<\/a> has established himself as a pound-for-pound great, but the unified super-middleweight champion could further add to his legacy, after being offered a world title shot in a new weight-class.<\/p>\n

\u2018Bud\u2019 first won a world title as a lightweight and the Omaha-born phenomenon has proceeded to pick up belts at super-lightweight, welterweight, super-welterweight and now super-middleweight \u2013 becoming boxing\u2019s sixth five-division world champion.<\/p>\n

As a result, the 38-year-old is now being linked to a move down to middleweight, where he could become just the third fighter in boxing history to reign in six different divisions, with WBC champion Carlos Adames being touted as a possible opponent.<\/p>\n

However, unpaid sanctioning fees have seen Crawford stripped of his WBC super-middleweight crown<\/a>, whilst the three-belt middleweight unification clash between Janibek Alimkhanuly and Erislandy Lara has been cancelled due to a positive drugs test<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Consequently, a door has been opened for Crawford to challenge for middleweight honours with an alternate sanctioning body, as WBA titleholder Erislandy Lara and his trainer, Bob Santos, called for a clash with the undefeated sensation in an interview with K.O. Artist Sports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to say something on his [Lara\u2019s] behalf, he is not a talker, but I am talker. \u2018BoMac\u2019 [Brian McIntyre], if you\u2019re listening, you let Crawford know, any time, any place. Yes, you guys beat Canelo, he [Lara] beat Canelo too.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can do that fight any time, any place. It would be a great fight stylistically and this would be the most technical, most difficult fight, in my mind, that Crawford has ever fought.<\/p>\n

\u201cStyles makes fights and this guy\u2019s style is a problem for anybody. He is the \u2018Cuban Assassin\u2019, from distance, he has got length, he has got speed, in that left-handed stance he can do a lot of different things.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Santos alludes to, Lara lost a controversial split-decision to Canelo back in 2014, but Guantanamo-born southpaw has since picked up world titles at both super-welterweight and middleweight.<\/p>\n

At present, 42-year-old Lara remains as boxing\u2019s oldest current world champion, but he is expected to attempt a defence of his title on Saturday night against a late-notice opponent following Alimkhanuly\u2019s withdrawal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Terence Crawford has established himself as a pound-for-pound great, but the unified super-middleweight champion could further add to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":319625,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-329930","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-boxing","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/319625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}