{"id":190812,"date":"2025-10-10T16:07:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-10T16:07:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/190812\/"},"modified":"2025-10-10T16:07:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T16:07:07","slug":"most-avoided-world-champion-says-hes-fighting-terence-crawford-next-year-get-excited","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/190812\/","title":{"rendered":"Most Avoided World Champion Says He’s Fighting Terence Crawford Next Year: “Get Excited”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Terence Crawford<\/a> will soon be plotting his next move in the sport, and he is a ma with many options.<\/p>\n

The switch-hitter from Omaha, Nebraska made history last month when he defeated Saul \u2018Canelo\u2019 Alvarez<\/a> over the distance to win all four belts at super-middleweight, making it the third division in which he has been undisputed.<\/p>\n

Talk of retirement for the 38-year-old appears to have been dismissed by his team, so the focus \u2013 after some rest, recovery and celebration \u2013 now turns to who\u2019s next.<\/p>\n

After Crawford teased a move to middleweight \u2013 the one division leaving a gap in his title winning run from lightweight to super-middleweight \u2013 Janibek Alimkhanuly was quick to respond to say that he would put his IBF and WBO belts on the line.<\/p>\n

The undefeated middleweight champion has now provided further update via X, hinting that things may have progressed and the fight could take place in 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cLooks like boxing fans have a new fight to get excited about \u2013 Janibek vs Crawford! Everyone\u2019s talking about it, and if all goes well, it could happen next year. The best should face the best that\u2019s my mindset.\u201d<\/p>\n

Janibek \u2013 who calls himself the sport\u2019s most avoided champion due to matchmaking struggles \u2013 has held the WBO belt since July 2022 and added the IBF in October 2023. Though a much smaller name than Crawford\u2019s last two outings in Errol Spence and Canelo, some feel that the Kazakh puncher will provide a sterner test for \u2018Bud.\u2019<\/p>\n

Tim Bradley, a man huge on Crawford\u2019s talent and legacy, has even warned him it could be a tough night at the office against a \u2018killer.\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

Before facing off against a future Hall of Famer in Crawford, Janibek may enter a unification fight with Erislandy Lara.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Terence Crawford will soon be plotting his next move in the sport, and he is a ma with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":181591,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-190812","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/181591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}