Boxing

Terence Crawford Stripped Of WBA Title Belt In Telling Career Move

Terence Crawford lose one of his champion belts less than two weeks after beating Canelo Alvarez.
Grant Young|
Terence Crawford on September 9, 2025.
Terence Crawford on September 9, 2025. | IMAGO / Hoganphotos

Terence "Bud" Crawford has all the power in his hands right now, in more ways than one.

After Crawford produced a massive upset over Canelo Alvarez while the world was watching on Netflix on September 13, he can essentially do whatever he desires regarding his future.

He is now the undisputed super middleweight (168-pound) champion, thus making him the first male boxer in history to have earned undisputed status in three different divisions.

Crawford's sustained success across several weight divisions, combined with his win against Canelo, has made him the inarguable No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world, in the eyes of many. Therefore, "Bud" will get his pick of the litter when it comes to his next opponent.

There's a chance he will rematch Canelo at super middleweight, in what would surely be another extremely lucrative fight. He could also challenge another top contender at super middleweight, like Hamzah Sheeraz, or move up another weight division to face a guy like David Benavidez or Dmitry Bivol.

He could also go back down to one of the lower divisions that he has become champion at or challenge for the belts at 160 pounds, a division he hasn't competed in at this point.

Canelo Alvarez vs Terence Crawford
IMAGO / PxImages

Or Crawford could retire. However, considering how much money he would be leaving on the table if he called it quits, it's hard to imagine Crawford will hang up the gloves and ride off into the sunset right now.

WBA Names New Champion in Telling Terence Crawford Decision

However, it seems that Crawford's team has already made one decision: He won't be going back to the 154-pound super welterweight (aka the junior middleweight) division, which is where he defeated Israil Madrimov to claim the WBA and vacant WBO in his most recent fight before facing Canelo.

This was revealed with an X post from Wasserman Boxing on September 19, which is a major boxing promotional group that works with WBA interim super welterweight champion Abass Baraou. The post announced that Baraou has been elevated to full WBA super welterweight world champion.

If this is true, it could only mean one thing: That Crawford's team has informed the WBA that they won't be returning to super welterweight to defend this belt, which means it has been vacated and given to Baraou.

This seems to speak volumes about Crawford's next career move, informing the boxing community that he doesn't have any desire to cut that extra weight to get down to 154 again. And who can blame him, considering how great he looked at super middleweight?

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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.