Terence Crawford will compete in the biggest fight of his career in September when he challenges Canelo Alvarez at super middleweight.
‘Bud’ Crawford will be making the move up to super middleweight from super welterweight as he is ascending two weight divisions to fight one of the greatest Mexican fighters of all time.
A win for Crawford would be a 42nd consecutive victory for Crawford, while Alvarez is looking to build on his win over William Scull in May.
Some are predicting a knockout win for Crawford when he takes on Alvarez. In 2016, Crawford was truly able to show his finishing ability in a world title fight.
Terence Crawford stopped John Molina Jr. in 2016
After winning a unification bout against Viktor Postol in July 2016, he returned in December of that year to face John Molina Jr.
Molina Jr. had a professional record of 29-6, and went into his bout with Crawford off the back of two wins.
However, the challenger’s recent good form did not prove to be a factor in the fight. When the pair met in Las Vegas, it was a dominant showing from ‘Bud’.
Molina Jr. was not eligible to win the WBC and WBO World Super Lightweight titles due to missing weight, but Crawford would have dropped the belts with a loss. However, this was not the case.
After winning the opening seven rounds, Crawford stopped the bout in the eighth to improve his record to 30-0. In what would turn out to be the final round of the fight, Crawford began to land damaging punches on Molina Jr.
Despite being on the receiving end of the blows, the challenger began to wave Crawford forward, inviting more pressure. Doing this several times, Crawford would eventually corner the challenger and land finishing blows.
With the final punch of the bout putting Molina Jr. down, the referee immediately waved off the bout as Crawford successfully defended his titles.
The stoppage was the 22nd of the American’s career, who has finished all but one of his opponents since.
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Terence Crawford has only been taken the distance by Israil Madrimov since 2016
A unanimous decision win for Crawford over Postol would be the last time the modern great would be brought the distance for another eight years.
Winning 11 fights in a row via finish, Crawford’s stoppage streak was stopped by Uzbekistan’s Israil Madrimov in August 2024.
In his super welterweight debut, Crawford was made to fight hard to earn a unanimous decision victory. The win was Crawford’s most recent going into his bout with Alvarez.
Ahead of the super fight, the former undisputed champion has a current 41-0 record, consisting of 31 wins by way of knockout. Crawford has stopped the likes of Felix Diaz and Errol Spence Jr. in his career.