Boxing

Terence Crawford Reveals Who He Has ‘Eyes On’ For Next Fight

Terence Crawford has his sights set on a potential next opponent.
Grant Young|
IMAGO / Torsten Helmke

Undisputed super middleweight champion Terence Crawford is still relishing in his upset victory over Canelo Alvarez in September, and rightfully so.

Not only did Crawford cement his place as one of the greatest boxers of all time by beating Canelo, but he made a staggering sum that will ensure he's set for life after retiring.

Therefore, it's no surprise to see Crawford touring around the world and showing up at seemingly random events in the wake of that win. The most recent of these events was the WBO Convention 2025 in Bogotá, Colombia. Crawford has been documenting his time there, and at one point, he posted a video that sparked speculation about whether he already has his next fight lined up.

Terrence Crawford
Terrence Crawford | IMAGO / Hoganphotos

Crawford was taking a video of a screen at the convention that showed him posing. Right after that, a photo of WBO and IBF middleweight champion Janibek Alimkhanuly came up. Crawford quickly turned the camera away, as if he was trying to hide what had just been shown.

This made some wonder whether this potential fight had been leaked, and that Crawford would be dropping down to middleweight to pursue another undisputed belt before retiring.

Crawford Reveals He Has 'Eyes On' Janibek Alimkhanuly For Potential Next Fight

The boxing world now knows that Crawford definitely won't be next for Alimkhanuly, as news recently broke that he's facing WBA middleweight champion Erislandy Lara on December 6.

However, that doesn't mean Alimkhanuly can't be next for Crawford, especially if Crawford wants to take several more months off before returning at some point in the second quarter of 2026. And Crawford seemed to make this suggestion through a video that Alimkhanuly posted on his X account on October 30.

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The video shows someone next to Crawford (who is looking at the camera with his fist raised) saying, "Hey [Janibek]. We're here next. Looking for you! Looking for December 6, how you're gonna do it."

"I've got my eyes on you, Janibek. Good luck!" Crawford then said.

Fighting the winner of Alimkhanuly vs. Lara makes all the sense in the world for Crawford if he wants to pursue a fourth undisputed belt. The winner of that fight will have the WBA, WBO, and IBF belts, with only Carlos Adames' WBC belt unaccounted for.

Therefore, Crawford would take three of the middleweight division's four belts if he beat the winner of Alimkhanuly vs. Lara and then could fight Adames by the end of 2026, potentially creating a clear path for him to win undisputed status in middleweight by this time next year.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young is a Staff Writer for On SI’s Boxing, New York Mets, Indiana Fever, and Women’s Fastbreak sites. Before joining SI in 2024, he wrote for various boxing and sports verticals such as FanBuzz and NY Fights. Young has a bachelor’s degree in marketing and a master’s degree in creative writing with an emphasis on sports nonfiction from the University of San Francisco, where he played five seasons of Division 1 baseball. He fought Muay Thai professionally in Thailand in 2023, loves a good essay, and is driven crazy trying to handle a pitpull puppy named Aura. Young lives in San Diego and was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area.