In a move that surprised absolutely nobody at all, Terence Crawford has vacated his WBO welterweight title.
As first reported by Jake Donovan of Ring TV, the WBO officially recognized Crawford’s decision to let the belt go on Monday and also ruled that current interim WBO welterweight champ Brian Norman Jr. would now be elevated to full world champ status.
Norman won the interim title in May, with a tenth round KO of Giovani Santillan.
Crawford will– again, to nobody’s surprise– remain at junior middleweight, where he recently captured the interim WBO title (as well as the WBA title) with a unanimous decision victory over Israil Madrimov at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles.
The Omaha, Nebraska native became a four-belt unified welterweight champion in July of 2023 when he stopped Errol Spence in the ninth round and added the IBF, WBA, and WBC belts to his own WBO strap. In the months after his legacy-defining victory, Crawford relinquished his IBF and WBC titles and is expected to do the same with the WBA title.
In theory, Crawford should be lined up to face WBO (and WBC) 154 lb. champ, Sebastion Fundora. But the bout, which was actually ordered before Crawford won his title(s), was put on hold due to a timely Fundora medical suspension from the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
Crawford has recently been tied to a bout with newly-crowned interim WBC junior middleweight champ Vergil Ortiz Jr., who beat Serhii Bohachuk this past Saturday to claim the belt. However, calls for an immediate rematch between Ortiz and Bohachuk may push a potential Crawford clash further down the road.
Although Crawford is currently without a proposed opponent and title bouts with both Fundora and Ortiz are in doubt, at least for the immediate future, staying put at 154 is almost a sure thing. The only “unless” in those plans would be if Crawford somehow lands his desired dream fight versus unified super middleweight champ Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, but that looks to be an extreme long shot at this point.
Crawford recently ruled out the idea of facing Errol Spence in a junior middleweight bout. Disagreements between former world titlist Tim Tszyu and Crawford’s advisor/sponsor Turki Alalshikh also make a Crawford-Tszyu bout unlikely.
Given the realities of his situation, the soon-to-be 37-year-old may not enter the ring again until the first quarter of 2025.
Paul Magno has over forty years of experience in and around the sport of boxing and has had his hand in everything from officiating to training. As a writer, his work has appeared on Yahoo Sports, Fox Sports, Fight Hype, Max Boxing, Boxing.com, Inside Fights, The Queensberry Rules, Overtime Heroics, Bleacher Report, and Premier Boxing Champions. He is currently the owner and managing editor or The Boxing Tribune. You can follow his Twitter/X account, @boxing_tribune, for breaking boxing news, analysis, and sometimes NSFW commentary. For Advertising, Inquiries, etc., send him an email here: paulmagno@theboxingtribune.com