Terence Crawford

Amateur career

Terence Crawford took up boxing at the age of seven. Crawford fought 70 official amateur bouts, losing only 12 times. As an amateur, he defeated future world champions Mikey Garcia and Danny García. After winning three amateur tournaments shortly before the 2008 Olympics, he became the highest-ranked lightweight in the US. However, losses to boxers like Sadam Ali would thwart his olympic ambitions.

Amateur accolades

Debut and development

Crawford made his professional debut on March 14, 2008, knocking out Brian Cummings in Round 1. Compiling an early career record of 19-0 with 15 by way of knockout against largely unheralded opposition.

Crawford had his first notable bout on the undercard of the second fight between Brandon Rios and Mike Alvarado, against former WBO lightweight champion Breidis Prescott (26-4, 20 KOs). Prescott was originally scheduled to face WBA light welterweight champion Khabib Allakhverdiev, who withdrew with an injured elbow. Crawford was originally supposed to meet Robert Osiobe on the same card, but accepted the offer to fill in for Allakhverdiev on three-days notice. Crawford nevertheless outboxed the hard hitting Colombian and secured a unanimous decision victory. Crawford received a purse of $125,000, whilst Prescott received $50,000. This was the first time Crawford fought a 10-round fight and his first time fighting at the 140 lb. limit.

Crawford vs Sanabria

Crawford fought Alejandro Sanabria (34-1-1, 25 KOs) on June 15, 2013. Held at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas, USA, the fight served as an eliminator for the WBO world lightweight title and was also for the vacant WBO NABO lightweight title. In the 6th round, Crawford landed a devastating left hook, sending Sanabria to the canvas. Though Sanabria was able to return to his feet within the count, the fight was waved off by referee Laurence Cole, giving Crawford a TKO victory. This was the last time Sanabria fought.

Crawford vs. Burns

Five months after besting previously undefeated Russian fighter Andrey Klimov in another elimination bout, Crawford traveled to Scotland to take on Ricky Burns for the WBO lightweight title. Crawford easily won the fight, boxing well on the outside and picking his shots against the over-matched but game Burns, winning the title and improving his record to 23-0.

Crawford vs. Gamboa

Fighting for the first time as a professional in his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska, Crawford made his first title defense against undefeated Cuban fighter Yuriorkis Gamboa. This was only the second title fight ever held in Omaha, the first being in 1972, when heavyweight champion Joe Frazier defeated the Omaha/Council Bluffs product Ron Stander by 4th-round TKO. Gamboa won the early rounds using his speed advantage, but Crawford eventually adjusted, knocking Gamboa down once in the 5th round, again in the 8th, and finally twice in the 9th to secure a TKO win. Crawford stated after the fight "I was warming up, getting used to his style in the first couple of rounds. I just wanted to test him out, I felt like I could make an adjustment with my jab, because he's always dropping his left hand. I thought I could get him with my jab in the southpaw stance."

Crawford vs. Beltran

Held at The Century Link Center in Omaha, Nebraska, USA, Crawford made his second defense of the WBO title against Ring Magazine Number 1 contender Ray Beltran (29-6-1, 17 KOs), earning a 12-round unanimous decision win. The final judges scorecards read 119-109 (twice) and 120-108 all in favour of Crawford. After the fight, Crawford announced his intentions to leave the lightweight division to fight as a light welterweight. The fight averaged averaged 836,000 viewers on HBO and peaked at 936,000 viewers. It was considered a disappointment because the co-feature which saw Evgeny Gradovich draw with Jayson Velez drew an average 865,000 viewers and peaked just over 1 million.

Crawford vs. Dulorme

Crawford made his debut at light welterweight on April 18, 2015 at the College Park Center in Arlington, Texas against Thomas Dulorme, with the vacant WBO light welterweight title on the line. The fight was stopped after Dulorme was knocked down three times in the 6th round, granting Crawford a TKO victory. The fight averaged 1.004 million viewers on HBO.

Crawford vs. Jean, Lundy

With a dominant performance that mixed superlative boxing skills with crunching power, Crawford knocked out Dierry Jean (29-1, 20 KOs) on October 24, 2015 at CenturyLink Center, Nebraska to retain the WBO light welterweight title. Crawford landed 169 total punches out of 533 thrown, and an impressive 40 percent of his power shots. Over the last three rounds, Crawford out-landed Jean 59 to 9. Crawford was ahead on all three judges scorecards at the time of stoppage (89-80, 90-79 twice). The fight was a success on HBO, drawing an average of 1.071 million viewers and peaked at 1.2 million.

In his next bout against Hank Lundy (26-5-1, 13 KOs), Crawford showed exactly why he's been earmarked as America's next great prizefighter. He defended his light welterweight championship on February 27, 2016 with a scintillating fifth-round TKO of Lundy before a sellout crowd of 5,092 at the Theater of Madison Square Garden. Crawford connected with 89 of 247 punches (36%), compared to 47 of 411 for Lundy (22%). Lundy won a fast-paced first round. Crawford then overwhelmed him with head and body punches which found the mark by volume and accuracy. Lundy went down in a corner in the fifth round. He beat the count, but the bout was soon stopped. The fight averaged 982,000 viewers on HBO and peaked just over 1 million viewers.

Crawford vs. Postol

On May 3, 2016 it was finally confirmed that Crawford and Viktor Postol (28-0, 12 KOs) had officially signed a contract for the highly anticipated light welterweight unification fight on July 23 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Both fighters entered the ring with a matched record of 28 wins, no losses. Both men also entered the MGM Grand Garden Arena for the first time in their respective careers. Crawford won by unanimous decision and unified two light welterweight world titles before a crowd of 7,027. Crawford also claimed the vacant Lineal and The Ring Magazine titles.

Crawford scored two flash knockdowns in the fifth round, on going away on all three scorecards 118-107, 118-107 and 117-108. ESPN.com also scored the fight 118-107 for Crawford. Postol resorted to rabbit punching in the 11th round. He nailed Crawford with a right hand behind the head, for which Postol was penalized one point, adding to Crawford's advantage. With the victory, Crawford staked his indisputable claim to division supremacy and set himself up for much bigger fights, possibly against a returning Manny Pacquiao. Over 12 rounds, Crawford landed 141 of his 388 punches thrown (36%), and Postol landed 83 of 244 thrown (34%).

In the post-fight, Postol praised Crawford, "I thought it was a good fight between two technicians, but he was quicker than me. He is one of the best fighters in the world. I just didn't have the answers for him." Crawford also praised his trainer Brian McIntyre, "Freddie Roach and Postol said that Freddie would out coach my coach, but you tell 'em who got outcoached tonight." McIntyre revealed the plan was to keep Postol moving, which would have eliminated his jab and right hand. Crawford's purse for the fight was $1.3 million. Postol earned $675,000 fir his part. Some sources stated the fight generated 50,000 PPV buys on HBO. A replay was shown later in the week and drew 378,000, also considered a weak number.

Crawford vs. Molina

Crawford was not due to fight next until 2017, however due to the Golovkin-Jacobs fight being postponed to early 2017, this freed up the December 10 date for HBO. Arum confirmed Crawford would like to take the date and was also looking at potential opponents, including the then world titleholder Eduard Troyanovsky (25-0, 22 KOs) and Antonio Orozco (25-0, 16 KOs). Arum announced a deal was in place for a fight between Crawford and 33 year old contender John Molina Jr. (29-6, 23 KOs) on December 10, 2016 at Crawford's hometown at CenturyLink Center in Omaha, Nebraska. Molina previously defeated Russian contender Ruslan Provodnikov in a 12-round unanimous decision in June 2016, where he claimed the vacant WBO International light welterweight title. Molina weighed 144lb at the weigh in which meant he lost right to fight for Crawford's world titles. Although being a voluntary, had Crawford lost the fight, he would have lost his belts. For the fight to go ahead, Molina gave $400,000 of his purse to Crawford, adding to his already agreed purse of $1.5m.

Crawford held onto his titles in stopping Molina in the 8th round in front of a large crowd of Crawford fans in Omaha. Crawford ran around the ring most of the fight, jabbing, holding and pot shotting an out of shape Molina. In round 8, Crawford threw a flurry of shots that hurt Molina. Crawford then finished Molina off with three right hands to the head and a right to the body before referee Mark Nelson then halted the fight. In the post fight interview, Crawford felt he should be 2016 'Fighter of the Year' for his wins over Molina, Hank Lundy and Viktor Postol, "I feel like I got it. I just have to wait until the results come in." Crawford also reiterated his desire to unify the division before a possible move up to welterweight. Crawford landed 184 punches from 419 thrown, Molina landed 41 of 287 thrown, a 14-percent connect rate. The fight drew an average 806,000 viewers and peaked at 871,000 viewers on HBO.

Crawford vs. Diaz

Bob Arum spoke to ESPN in early February 2017 about Crawford's next defence and possible opponents. He said that HBO reserved May 20 for the fight and the venue most likely to be in Crawford's hometown of Omaha in Nebraska. Mexican boxer Antonio Orozco (25-0, 16 KOs), one of Crawford's mandatory challengers and 2008 Olympic gold medalist Felix Diaz (19-1, 9 KOs), who had been calling out Crawford, were the names mentioned. He went on to explain how Orozco's promoters seemed to have little interest in the fight, however Lou DiBella, promoter of Diaz, is eager to make a fight happen. Arum spoke to The Ring on March 1 saying that Crawford's opponent had been narrowed down to Felix Diaz or Adrian Granados. Amir Imam, ranked number 1 by WBC at 140 was also in the mix, but Arum said that he found it difficult to make a deal with his promoter Don King. Terms were finally agreed on March 22 for Crawford vs. Diaz at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey on May 20, 2017 live on HBO. Contracts were to be signed shortly after. A week after the fight was announced, the location was changed. The new venue was confirmed to be Madison Square Garden in New York. This was the first time Crawford fought at the arena.

In front of a crowd of 8,026, Crawford retained his world titles after a dominating performance, which forced Diaz's trainer, Joel Diaz to stop the fight after round 10. Towards the end, Diaz did close to nothing, leaning against the ropes. This was mostly due to his vision, as his right eye was nearly closed and his left eye, badly swollen. Crawford used his jab for most of the fight, and used it to control the pace and help him move around the ring in his southpaw stance. Joel Diaz said in the post fight, he pulled Diaz out, because he was taking too much punishment. Also in the post-fight, Crawford said, "It's not up to me. But everybody wants to know who's the next guy that Terence Crawford wants to fight. I'll fight anybody. It doesn't matter who it is." He then called out Keith Thurman. Promoter Bob Arum mentioned Crawford would likely fight again in the summer, against Julius Indongo, where the winner would be crowned the undisputed world champion.

According to CompuBox Punch Stats, Crawford landed 193 of his 250 punches thrown (37.1%). In that figure, he landed 59.1% of his power punches (139 of 235 thrown). Diaz landed 69 of 346 (19.9%). At the time of stoppage, judges Glenn Feldman and Steve Weisfeld had it 100-90 and judge Julie Lederman had the score 99-91, all in favour of Crawford. According to Nielsen, the fight averaged 961,000 viewers on HBO’s “World Championship Boxing” and peaked at 1.036m viewers. It was the most viewed fight on HBO so far in 2017.

Crawford vs. Indongo

On July 1, 2017 Top Rank announced that a light welterweight unification fight between Crawford, and WBA (Unified) and IBF champion Julius Indongo (22-0, 11 KOs) was agreed to take place on August 19 at the Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Nebraska live on ESPN in US and Sky Sports in the UK. The projected unification of every major world title in boxing (WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO, The Ring, and lineal) will determine the light welterweight division's first undisputed champion since Kostya Tszyu in 2004, and the first time all the aforementioned titles have been at stake in a single fight since Bernard Hopkins vs. Jermain Taylor in 2005. Both fighters paid over $100,000 US dollars in sanctioning fees. Crawford entered the fight as a heavy favourite to win.

In front of a home crowd of 12,121, Crawford became the undisputed champion at light welterweight after knocking out Indongo in round 3. The final punch was a well placed left hook to the right side of the body, which immediately dropped Indongo. Referee Jack Reiss counted to 10 and promptly called an end after 1 minute and 38 seconds. Indongo also touched the canvas during round 1, but the referee ruled it a slip. Additionally, Indongo was knocked down and received a count after a left hand from Crawford during round 2.

According to compubox stats, Crawford landed 26 of his 75 punches thrown (35%), while Indongo landed 13 of 74 thrown (18%). Both boxers earned an undisclosed 7-figure purse. Following the fight, Indongo stated "When he hit me like that, my mind was gone" about Crawford's body shot. Crawford stated that he had yet to make a decision on the next step in his career but there was speculation about him moving up to the welterweight division or defending his light welterweight titles against Mikey Garcia.

Mere days after the fight, the IBF ordered a fight between Crawford and their mandatory challenger, Sergey Lipinets. Lipinets was named Indongo's mandatory challenger on December 2016, but Indongo was given an exception to allow the unification fight with Crawford to happen. Lipinets stated that the IBF title was "stolen from him". As Crawford didn't plan to return to the ring before the IBF's deadline, he vacated the IBF title just 11 days after defeating Indongo. The IBF ordered Lipinets to face Akihiro Kondo for their vacant title.

On August 31, the WBA Championships Committee revealed that they had elevated Crawford to 'Super' champion status. Due to Crawford owning all four major boxing organisation's world titles at super lightweight, based on WBA rules, Article C18, it stated under special circumstances, he could be elevated. WBA, however hold on to their policy of having only one champion per weight category and insisted an 'Interim' or 'Regular' title would not be created.

Outside of boxing

On September 21, 2016 Crawford was found guilty of two counts dating back to April, when he turned himself into the police. He was charged for theft of services, criminal mischief, third-degree assault and trespassing. The assault and theft charges were later dropped. A sentence hearing date was set for December 15. The incident took place at a local car body shop. Crawford had made a partial payment, but refused to pay the remainder after he wasn't satisfied with the work being done and amount being charged. He started to lower the car himself, damaging the hydraulic lift. At the hearing, Crawford was sentenced to 90 days in jail, but would be serving 53 days. Crawford was incarcerated for only 8 hours, before being released after his attorney posted a $10,000 bond.