Terence Crawford retires - Is it really the end of his brilliant career?

Terence Crawford dropped a bombshell on the sport of boxing by announcing his retirement on Tuesday evening.

‘Bud’ let his fans know the news with a social media post accompanied by a five-minute video and the quote: “Walking away as a great with nothing else left to prove.”

The Omaha, Nebraska native exits as a 5-weight world champion, having been undisputed at a record three different weights, and with a perfect CV of 42-0 (31 KOs).

It puts him in a very select club of fighters who have retired unbeaten, at the top of their game and with all of their faculties intact.

In fact, Crawford’s stock has never been higher with the announcement coming just three months after the biggest win of his career against Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez.

Crawford defied the odds by jumping up two weight divisions to dethrone the super middleweight king and register a clear unanimous decision victory with a masterful display boxing.

The 38-year-old didn’t just outbox the bigger man, he made it looks easy at times and such a performance means the offers coming into him now will be bigger than ever.

Is it really the end?

Still in peak form and with his earning power never greater than it is now, the timing of his retirement is all the more surprising and the pull of ‘one more fight’ must be huge with the prospect of another massive pay day on the horizon.

So, is this really goodbye? Forgive me for being cynical but Crawford wouldn’t be the first to announce his retirement only to return for an increased fee down the line, and he wouldn’t be the last.

There have been countless examples of fighters who have retired before finding the lure of boxing again to be too much and subsequently returned to action.

The most notable of recent times has been Tyson Fury, whose false retirements have been so regular that few took him seriously when he announced another end to career after his second loss to Oleksandr Usyk last December.

Rumours about Fury’s long-awaited showdown with domestic rival Anthony Joshua being set for 2026 have really ramped up this week and it seems certain that, unsurprisingly, we will see ‘The Gypsy King’ in action again next year.

Therefore, it would be no great surprise to see Crawford perform a U-turn on retirement and find it hard to hang his gloves up for good, especially when he still at the peak of his powers.

However, Crawford has never been one to do things by the book and he has made a living out of proving people wrong, so he may do so once again by staying retired when most others would find it hard to turn down the increasing offers coming his way.

How big of a loss to boxing is he?

There is no doubt that Crawford is a huge loss to the sport, especially in America.

US fans have had to watch fighters from other countries dominate most divisions in recent years but Crawford has been their one constant source of success.

A genuine hero in his home state, Crawford has become a star on a wider scale in recent years and especially since his showdown with fellow unbeaten American Errol Spence Jr. for all the marbles at welterweight in 2023.

The ease with which Crawford dealt with his compatriot on the way to a stoppage in round 9 impressed the vast number of eyeballs that blockbuster attracted and made him a much bigger star in the process.

Then, in what may prove to be his final fight, Crawford’s bout with Canelo drew an estimated global audience of around 41 million on Netflix and was a huge commercial success.

That victory also cemented his position as the pound-for-pound number 1 with most observers.

Naoya Inoue, Usyk and Crawford have been the undoubted top three on that mythical list in recent years and debate has raged between the fans about who should be on top of the podium.

However, Crawford’s feat of jumping up a couple of divisions to comfortably take care of the Mexican superstar in September ended the argument for many and made him their undisputed pound-for-pound king.

What is his legacy in the sport?

Leaving the sport as reigning lineal and unified 168lbs champion, Crawford has created a huge legacy for himself and is a shoo-in first-ballot Hall of Famer.

Not only has he never been beaten, he has never really looked like suffering a defeat and has always appeared like a man in total control when boxing.

That is especially impressive when you consider all of his last twenty contests were world title bouts and he has consistently mixed in the best company at his chosen weight.

Perhaps Israil Madrimov came closest to inflicting an ‘L’ on his record, but most viewers agreed with the judges (116-112, 115-113 twice) that Crawford had done enough to get the victory and that he was the deserved winner.

Prior to that, Crawford recorded eleven straight stoppage victories – confirming his ability to close the show was just as great as his silky skills.

Whether this the end of the road for Crawford or not, he will go down as one of the greatest of his era and someone who had the substance to back up his abundance of style inside the ropes.

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