Terence Crawford plans to move up to 147, wants Jeff Horn-Manny Pacquiao 2 winner
After unifying every major world title at 140-pounds, American boxing standout Terence Crawford has his sights set on bigger things at 147.
Terence Crawford (32-0, 23 KOs) became the first man since Kostya Tszyu* to unify all major championship belts at junior welterweight, and unlike Tszyu, he did so under the four-belt era (with the WBO becoming a major title in 2007). Crawford stopped Julius Indongo (22-1, 11 KOs) with a debilitating body shot in the third round of Saturday’s Top Rank on ESPN main event in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Having fulfilled his goal of unifying all major championships, “Bud” is now looking towards moving up to welterweight.
“I’m planning on moving up to 147,” Crawford said on ESPN’s SportsCenter. “That’s the next step for me and my coaches and managers and my team. We’re going to try and conquer the welterweight division.
“For me to move up I would have to vacate all the titles.”
Crawford’s promoter Bob Arum is planning on having the 29-year-old travel to Australia to have a front row view of the (not officially announced) rematch between WBO welterweight champion Jeff Horn (17-0-1, 11 KOs) and Manny Pacquiao (59-7-2, 38 KOs), which is expected to happen on November 11th. Horn won a disputed unanimous decision over Pacquiao back in July. Arum is hoping that Crawford faces the winner of that fight, and it looks as if Crawford is on board.
"I been making history for Omaha, Nebraska, since I started boxing professional, and it just keeps going and going and going," he said, adding of potentially facing the Horn-Pacquiao II winner, "I'm all for it. When you start boxing when you're 7 years old, that's your dream, to become world champion, and after that you want to become something bigger than world champion.
"You just don't stop there -- you go to the highest level possible. I need that 147-pound belt. That's my next accomplishment."
Of course, Pacquiao’s manager has not-so-subtly rejected this fight before, so I wouldn’t get my hopes up too high for this to happen. If Pacquiao does beat Horn and it does indeed set up a Crawford fight, then it’s the best opportunity moving forward for Terence to boost his profile.
The current champions at welterweight are Horn (WBO), Keith Thurman (WBA and WBC), and Errol Spence Jr. (IBF).